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AN  ACCOUNT 


Dinner  by  the  Hamilton  Club 


TO 


HON.  JAMES  S.  T.  STRANAHAN, 


TliTirsday  Evening,  December  13,  1888. 


BROOKLYN,       -       NEW  YORK, 

Janiaary,  1883. 


SkOhK  Pucm,  BatocLTN,  X.  Y. 


SRLF 
URL 


cx.HhoHS'^ 


EXPLANATORY. 


The  proceedings  set  forth  in  these  pages  were  the 
result  of  the  following  correspondence  : 

[Gonunittee  of  the  Hamilton  Club  to  Mr.  Stranahan.] 

Hamilton  Club,  i 

Bbooklyn,  November  24,  1888.  ) 
Hon.  J.  S.  T.  Si-kanahan  : 

Dear  Sir — The  undersigned,  representing  a  large  number  of 
your  friends  and  fellow  members  of  the  Hamilton  Club,  respect- 
fully request  the  pleasure  of  your  company  at  a  Dinner  to  be 
given  in  your  honor,  at  the  Club  House,  Thursday  evening, 
December  13,  at  7  o'clock. 

It  is  the  desire  of  your  friends,  in  a  simple  and  unostentatious 
manner,  to  declare  their  appreciation  of  what  you  have  been  able 
to  accomplish  for  the  welfare  of  the  city,  in  which  for  so  many 
years  you  have  lived  an  honored  and  useful  life. 

George  M.  Olcott,  Charles  H.  Hall, 

Alexander  E.  Orr,  S.  B.  Chittenden, 

W.  B.  Kendall,  Isaac  H.  Cart, 

Seth  Low,  Bryan  H.  Smith, 

Alfred  C.  Barnes,  Benjamin  F.  Tracy, 

Robert  B.  Woodward,  Willis  L.  Ogden. 


[Mr.  Stranahan  to  Oommittee  of  the  Hamilton  Olnb.] 

Brooklyn,  November  36,  1888. 
Messrs.  George  M.  Olcott,  A.  E.  Orr  and  others  : 

Gentlemen — I  accept  with  pleasure  your  invitation  to  dine 
with  you  at  the  Hamilton  Club  on  the  evening  of  December  13. 
Let  me  assure  you  that  such  an  expression  of  regard  as  you 
extend  to  me  is  highly  appreciated. 

Respectfully  yours, 

J.  S.  T.  Stranahan. 


To  the  members  of  the  Club,  with  the  foregoing  cor- 
respondence, was  mailed  the  appended  statement : 

Brooklyn,  December  1,  1888. 
The  attention  of  the  members  is  respectfully  called  to  the 
accompanying  invitation  and  acceptance. 

Mr.  Stranahan  is  now  in  his  81st  year,  and  to  him  is  Brooklyn 
indebted  for  many  of  the  great  improvements  which  we  now 
enjoy. 

The  Dinner  will  be  served  in  the  Club  House,  Thursday  even- 
ing, December  13,  at  7  o'clock. 

If  it  be  your  pleasure  to  attend  this  Dinner  please  sign  and 
forward  the  encloted  card  to  office  of  the  Club.  The  capacity  of 
the  dining-room  is  limited  to  110.  Subscriptions  will  be  restricted 
to  members  only  until  the  7th  inst.,  but  they  may  make  appli- 
cation for  tickets  for  friends  immediately,  and  if  there  are  any 
vacancies,  seats  will  be  reserved  in  the  order  of  application. 
Yours  respectfully, 

William  B.  Kendall, 
Willis  L.  Ogden, 
C.  S.  Van  Wagoner, 
George  R.  Tuknbull, 

Committee  on  the  Dinner. 

The  limit  of  numbers  expressed  in  the  statement  to 
the  members  was  largely  exceeded,  as  the  list  of  names 
shows.  This  was  made  possible  by  the  use  of  the  entire 
floor,  on  which  the  dining-hall  is  situated,  as  one  room. 

The  account  of  the  banquet,  as  will  be  seen,  is  taken 
from  the  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle,  which  printed  a  full 
stenographic  report  of  the  remarks.  The  comments  of 
the  public  journals  upon  the  event,  with  letters  from 
friends  who  could  not  attend,  complete  the  record, 
which  is  herein  given  just  as  the  press,  from  its  varied 
points  of  view,  considered  the  affair. 

This  compilation  has  been  made  at  the  requst  of  those 
participating  on  the  occasion,  so  that,  in  convenient 
form,  the  history  of  it  might  be  presented  and  preserved. 

Brooklyn,  January,  1889. 


[From  the  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle  {report),  December  14,  1888.] 

Hon,  J.  S.  T.  Stranahan. 


The  Hamilton  Club  Dinner  to  Our  Chief  Citizen. 


An  Occasion  Memorable  for  Tribute  and  for 
Felicitation — The  Eminent  Guest's  Account 
of  His  Life  and  Labors  in  Brooklyn — 
Addresses  by  George  M.  Olcott,  R.  S. 
Storrs,  Alexander  McCue,  Alfred  C. 
Barnes,  Seth  Low,  John  B.  Woodward, 
Waldo  Hutchins  and   St.  Clair  McKelway. 

The  Dinner  of  tlie  members  of  the  Hamilton 
Okib  to  the  Hon.  James  S.  T.  Stranahan  occurred 
last  night.  The  event  informally  divided  itself 
into  a  social  greeting  of  the  distinguished  guest  in 
the  parlors  of  the  Olub  House,  before  the  assem- 
blage in  the  dining-room  into  the  banquet  proper, 
and  into  the  addresses  of  tribute  and  felicitation 
which  followed.  Each  event  was  a  marked  success. 
The  venerable  guest  of  the  evening  required  no 
introduction  to  those  who  thronged  around  him. 
Each  had  for  him  a  hearty  salutation.  For  each 
he  had  an  apt  and  courteous  acknowledgment. 
Mr.  Stranahan  never  looked,  and  said  he  never 
felt,  better.    A  larger  assemblage  of  members  and 


friends  of  the  Hamilton  hardly  ever  gathered  in 
its  halls.  If  there  had  been  any  doubt  of  the 
ability  of  the  Committee  in  charge  to  make  the 
occasion  the  climacteric  one  in  the  history  of  the 
Club,  the  representative  attendance  and  the  per- 
fection of  arrangements  removed  that  doubt. 

The  time  set  for  the  Dinner  was  seven  o'clock. 
A  chart  in  the  library  indicated  to  each  guest  the 
arrangement  of  the  tables  and  the  position  of  his 
seat  at  each.  Quite  promptly,  therefore,  the 
places  were  found,  and  commendably  near  to  the 
hour  named  the  gentlemen  were  gathered.  The 
tables  extended  from  north  to  south  on  the 
line  of  greatest  length  of  the  dining-room.  The 
first  table  was  reserved  for  the  President  of  the 
Club,  for  the  eminent  guest  of  the  Club,  and 
for  those  citizens,  the  speakers,  and  other  gen- 
tlemen who  were  the  guests  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Dinner.  At  that  table  in  the  center  were 
Mr.  George  M.  Olcott,  the  President  of  the 
Hamilton  Club,  on  his  right  being  the  Hon. 
J.  S.  T.  Stranahan,  and  on  his  left  General 
John  B.  Woodward,  the  present  President  of 
the  Board  of  Park  Commissioners.  At  the  south 
end  of  the  table  sat  Colonel  William  Hester,  and 
at  the  north  end  of  it  sat  Mr.  William  B.  Ken- 
dall. The  other  gentlemen  at  the  principal  table 
were  Judge  Charles  L.  Benedict,  ex-Judge  Alex- 
ander McCue,  ex-Mayor  Seth  Low,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  the  Hon.  St.  Clair  McKelway, 


ex-Judge  B.  F.  Tracy,  and  the  Eev.  Dr.  Charles 
H.  Hall. 

Among  those  present  were  G.  M.  Olcott,  Wil- 
liam B.  Kendall,  W.  L.  Ogden,  C.  S.  Van  Wag- 
oner, G.  R.  TurnbuU,  F.  E.  Taylor,  Judge  Charles 
L.  Benedict,  W.  H.  Husted,  P.  Worth,  J.  S. 
Turner,  D.  Birdsall,  B.  H.  Smith,  J.  N.  Par- 
tridge, W.  H.  Williams,  Clifford  S.  Middleton, 
J.  F.  Praeger,  J.  S.  Frothingham,  Alexander  E. 
Orr,  W.  K.  Paye,  Henry  Sheldon,  F.  E.  Dodge, 
Edwin  Packard,  H.  C.  CoHins,  Theo.  Dreier, 
J.  B.  Ladd,  A.  J.  Perry,  Abbott  L.  Dow,  W.  C. 
Kellogg,  ex-Judge  Alexander  McCue,  S.  M.  Par- 
sons, C  A,  Schieren,  John  Winslow,  T.  E.  Smith, 
D.  P.  W.  McMullen,  Congressman-elect  W.  C. 
Wallace,  E.  F.  Knowlton,  Alexander  Forman, 
General  Henry  W.  Slocum,  J.  J.  Walton,  J. 
Hazelhurst,  Wilham  Peet,  S.  Rowland,  R.  D. 
Benedict,  W.  P.  Mason,  L.  Switzer,  T.  C.  Long, 
G.  P.  Stockwell,  L.  H.  Rogers,  A.  Eraser,  H.  A. 
Tucker,  Jr.,  J.  E.  Spencer,  W.  V.  R.  Smith, 
H.  B.  Moore,  W.  N.  Peak,  J.  P.  Cranford,  A. 
Segur,  J.  G.  Johnston,  C.  A.  Hoyt,  W.  A.  White, 
A.  B.  Bayliss,  H.  E.  Ide,  W.  S.  Packer,  W.  C. 
Beecher,  J.  F.  Conkling,  St.  Clair  McKelway, 
J.  S.  Stanton,  H.  F.  Koepke,  Henry  Coffin,  R. 
Jenkins,  C.  A.  Richardson,  F.  L.  Fames,  H.  E. 
Nesmith,  C.  F.  Wrede,  J.  C.  Hoagland,  F.  Allen, 
D.  M.  Morrison,  N.  S.  Bentley,  H.  S.  Snow, 
D.  S.  Willard,  E.  G.  Blackford,  H.  Brown,  T.  S. 


8 

Moore,  W.  H.  Wallace,  F.  Birdseye,  W.  G.  Biid- 
ington,  R.  B.  Woodward,  0.  Perry,  W.  V.  Tapper, 
G.  W.  Mead,  G.  A.  Jabn,  C.  W.  Bangs,  J.  H. 
Bates,  G.  L.  Ford,  P.  L.  Ford,  J.  L.  Morgan,  Jr., 
W.  K.  Wilson,  T.  J.  Backus,  J.  O.  Low,  John 
Gibl),  William  R.  Porter,  E.  N.  Pigott,  Walter  S. 
Logan,  F.  A.  Guild,  N.  D.  Putnam,  W.  A.  Put- 
nam, J.  AVallace,  C.  W.  Bowen,  0.  A.  Moore, 
J.  S.  Coffin,  W.  H.  Viegler,  J.  A.  Nichols,  0. 
Patterson,  H.  D.  Atwater,  E.  B.  Barllett,  T.  H. 
Denny,  T.  E.  Williams,  S.  Coffin,  H.  B.  Nitchie, 
W.  C.  Gardiner,  I.  H.  Cary,  C.  T.  Howard, 
Charles  A.  Townsend,  W.  C.  Ford,  R.  H.  Turle, 
E.  H.  ;K!ellogg,  J.  E.  Leech,  Benjamin  F.  Tracy, 
W.  C.  Sheldon,  A.  H.  Ely,  A.  H.  Van  Cott, 
Joshua  M.  Van  Cott,  D.  W.  C.  Brown,  O.  J. 
Wells,  W.  A.  Reed,  F.  A.  Schroeder,  and  others. 

Before  the  guests  were  seated  the  divine  blessing 
on  the  occasion  was  invoked  by  Dr.  Storrs,  after 
which  the  gentlemen  addressed  themselves  to  the 
excellent  menu  provided  and  to  the  exchanges  of 
conversation,  which  were  rendered  easy  and  pleasur- 
able by  the  skill  and  knowledge  with  which  the 
congenial  grouping  of  those  present  had  been 
ananged. 

It  was  9:15  when  the  speaking,  reported  in  these 
columns  to-day,  began,  and  quite  midnight  when  it 
closed.  President  Olcott  was  both  apposite  and 
witty  in  his  opening  remarks  and  in  his  prefatory 
words  introducing  the  speakers  of  the  night.    The 


d 

address  of  Mr.  Stranaban  was  listened  to  with 
delighted  attention,  after  the  plaudits  with  which 
his  rising  was  greeted.  He  delivered  it  in  admir- 
able voice  and  manner,  and  point  after  point  was 
heartily  cheered.  The  ovation  which  the  entire 
affair  signalized  to  him,  under  a  variety  of  forms, 
was  very  marked  during  the  progress  of  the  ex- 
tremely able  and  interesting  words  of  his  response. 

The  orators  who  followed  him  made  Mr. 
Stranahan  and  Brooklyn  their  theme,  and  how 
well  they  did  so  their  printed  words  attest. 
Dr.  Storrs  was  never  in  better  form.  His 
eloquence  was  not  a  surprise.  If  his  incisive 
humor  was,  it  will  not  be  hereafter  to  those 
to  whom  he  may  in  that  guise  reveal  himself, 
for  he  fairly  abounded  with  it  at  notably  apt 
and  frequent  intervals.  He  closed  what  he 
said  with  the  words  of  dedication  to  her  husband 
which  Mrs.  Stranahan  has  employed  in  her 
recently  published  volume  on  the  "  History  of 
French  Painting."  Their  beauty  and  tender 
truthfulness  were  made  apparent  to  the  hearts 
of  all   present. 

The  flowers  which  graced  the  occasion  had 
been  sent  to  Mrs.  Stranahan,  and  mid  dinner 
a  felicitous  acknowledgment  was  received  from 
her  and  read  by  President  Olcott.  The 
address  of  Dr.  Storrs  covered  the  entire  Brooklyn 
record  of  Mr.  Stranahan.  The  remarks  of  Judge 
McOue    and    General    Barnes    referred    to    his 


10 

eminent  relations  to  the  bridge  and  the  ferries. 
Ex-Mayor  Low  enlarged  on  Mr.  Stranahan's 
position  as  a  stimulating  force  in  Brooklyn 
life,  and  wisely  wove  in  an  appeal  for  the  muni- 
cipal projects  of  improvements  now  under  way. 

General  Woodward  recalled  the  park  record 
of  the  honored  guest  of  the  evening  and 
magnified  the  need  of  greater  park  area  for 
Brooklyn.  The  Hon.  Waldo  Hutchins,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Park  Commission  of  New  York, 
paid  a  tribute  to  Mr.  Stranahan's  abilities  and 
character.  Mr.  St.  Clair  McKelway  recounted 
the  personal  qualities  and  the  perennial  youth- 
fulness  of  heart  which  have  made  Mr.  Stranahan 
alike  a  marvel  of  achievement  and  a  splendor 
of  example  to  Brooklyn.  The  latter  speaker's 
incidental  allusion  to  the  Hon.  Henry  R. 
Pierson,  now  of  Albany,  who  represented 
Brooklyn  in  the  State  Senate,  when  park 
legislation  was  passed,  was  greeted  with  marked 
plaudits,  as,  indeed,  were  all  the  points  succes- 
sively made  by  the  orators  of  the  evening.  The 
occasion  closed,  as  it  began  and  as  it  had 
progressed,  with  cheers  for  the  illustrious 
gentleman  whom  it  honored.  Following  is  a 
report  of  what  was  said : 


11 


THE  BANQUET  OF  REASON. 

It  was  9:15  when  tbe  Dinner  had  been  disposed 
of,  and  Mr.  G.  M.  Olcott,  who  oflQciated  as 
chairman  very  acceptably,  rapped  for  order.  The 
company  was  supplied  with  excellent  cigars,  and 
settled  back  to  enjoy  the  intellectual  part  of  the 
programme.      Mr.  Olcott  said  : 

Gentlemei*^ — This  occasion  may  well  call  up  this 
enthusiasm,  because  we  cannot  speak  of  our  guest  of  the 
evening,  in  whose  honor  we  are  assembled,  without 
bringing  up  in  thought  the  whole  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  City  of  Brooklyn.  [Applause.]  I  remember 
a  great  many  years  ago — not  so  many  in  his  estima- 
tion but  in  mine — in  conversation  with  a  business  friend 
in  New  York,  for  whose  opinion  I  had  great  respect,  I 
mentioned  as  an  advantage  of  living  on  Brooklyn  Heights, 
where  I  did  live,  rather  than  uptown  in  New  York,  where 
he  did  (this  was  before  the  elevated  railroads  were  built), 
that  I  could  so  readily  get  home  from  my  office.  He 
replied  :  '*  Yes,  you  can  get  to  Brooklyn  easily  enough, 
but  the  trouble  is  you  are  nowhere  when  you  get  there." 
[Laughter.]  His  idea  was— and  a  great  many  benighted 
New  Yorkers  still  have  it — that  Brooklyn  was  a  badly 
paved  place  lying  between  them  and  Greenwood 
Cemetery.  [Laughter.]  That  was  all  they  knew  of  it. 
And  the  carriage  makers,  as  you  all  are  aware,  if  they 
wanted  to  strongly  recommend  their  work  as  good,  used 
to  say  :  ''It  will  even  stand  use  on  Brooklyn  streets.'' 
[Laughter.]  In  those  days,  as  you  cannot  forget,  there 
wa3  but  one  place  of  intellectual  enjoyment  in  Brooklyn 


12 

— the  Brooklyn  Institute — with  a  weekly  course  of  lec- 
tures, supplemented  by  an  occasional  concert,  with 
Luther  B.  Wyman  to  set  us  an  example  of  courtly 
grace  in  handing  on  lady  singers.  [Applause.]  And 
now  look  at  the  change.  We  have  annexed  New  York 
by  that  beautiful  bridge.  We  have  enabled  our  friends 
there  to  cross  over  and  enjoy  the  delights  of  Prospect 
Park  and  the  luxury  of  riding  on  the  boulevard  ;  and 
these  advantages  we  owe  probably  more  than  to  any 
other  one  man,  to  the  energy,  ability  and  foresight  of 
J.  S.  T.  Stranahan.  [Applause.]  I  read  some  time 
ago  of  a  dying  man,  in  California,  I  balieve  it  was,  who 
was  asked  by  the  priest  whether  he  forgave  all  his  en- 
emies. He  replied  that  he  had  none  to  forgive— he  had 
killed  them  all.  [Laughter.]  It  is  a  good  deal  so  with 
our  friend.  He  has  been  called,  and  not  always  in 
friendship,  the  wizard  and  the  magician.  But  the 
names  well  fit,  and  he  has  lived  until  a  great  many  of 
those  who  formerly  opposed  him  now  count  themselves 
among  his  friends.  One  gentleman  here,  since  this 
dinner  was  spoken  of,  told  me  that  while  Prospect  Park 
was  being  built  and  he  read  in  the  papers  of  the  out- 
rageous sums  that  were  being  expended,  he  felt  like  join- 
ing in  a  mob  of  indignant  taxpayers  to  hang  Mr.  Stran- 
ahan to  a  lamp  post  [laughter],  but  after  riding  through 
the  park  and  seeing  what  a  park  it  was  for  the  city  he 
wanted  to  get  up  a  mob  of  citizens  to  get  lamp  posts 
enough  to  melt  and  make  a  colossal  statue.  [Applause.] 
So  the  parallel  between  Mr.  Stranahan  and  the  late 
lamented  gentleman  of  California  is  not  so  far-fetched. 
Indeed,  I  can  share  in  that  feeling,  too,  because  while 
the  bridge  was  being  built  I  had  a  notion  it  was  an 
awful  piece  of  extravagance.    But  walking  over  it  morn- 


13 

ing  and  night  since  its  completion,  the  only  way  I  can 
get  myself  together,  I  feel  almost  like  paying  for  it  my- 
self. [Laughter.]  Vividly  appreciating  the  great 
growth  and  advantage  of  the  city  due  to  these  and  other 
works  in  which  our  eminent  guest  has  been  engaged,  I 
ask  you  to  join,  standing,  in  drinking  to  the  health  of 
J.  S.  T.  Stranahan. 

The  company  arose  to  drink  the  health  of 
Mr.  Stranahan  and  united  in  singing  "For  He's 
a  Jolly  Good  Fellow."  Then  someone  tenderly 
inquired,  "  What's  the  matter  with  Stranahan  1 " 
The  response  came  at  once  loudly  and  unitedly, 
'*  He's  all  right !"  The  inquiring  gentleman  then 
wanted  to  know,  "Who's  all  right?"  "Strana- 
han," returned  all  in  deafening  concert,  and  loud 
applause  followed. 

Mr.  Olcott  presented  Mr.  Stranahan,  who  on 
rising  to  respond  was  greeted  with  three  hearty 
cheers.  When  quiet  was  restored  he  spoke  as 
follows : 

SPEECH   OF  MR.   STRANAHAN. 

Gentlemen — I  am  here  to-night  as  your  guest  by 
an  invitation  addressed  to  me  by  a  committee  repre- 
senting the  Hamilton  Club  of  Brooklyn.  The  source, 
the  medium  and  the  special  object  of  the  invitation, 
as  indicated  by  the  letter,  which  I  received,  at  once 
commanded  my  consideration,  and  awoke  within  me 
a  pleasant  sense  of  gratitude.  It  is  true  that 
Brooklyn  has  been  my  permanent  home  for  many 
years ;     and    I    assure    you    that    I    have    not    been 


14 

unobservant  of  its  growth,  and,  I  trust,  not  an  unin- 
terested spectator  of  that  growth.  A  special  cause 
of  a  business  nature  brought  me  to  this  city  in  1844, 
and  here  I  have  since  continued  to  reside,  now  for 
nearly  half  a  century.  Here  I  expect  to  reside  -to 
the  day  of  my  death.  There  is  no  spot  on  earth 
to  which  I  am  so  strongly  attached  as  to  the  City 
of  Brooklyn.  In  this  city  I  have  spent  the  larger 
and  more  important  part  of  my  life ;  and  if  I 
have  done  anything  deserving  the  attention  of  my 
fellow  citizens,   it  has  been   mainly  done  here. 

The  character  of  your  invitation  suggests  to  me 
that  on  this  occasion  you  will  naturally  expect  some 
words  from  my  lips  relating  not  to  Brooklyn  matters 
in  general,  but  rather  to  those  enterprises  with  which 
I  have  been  particularly  identified.  This,  I  am 
persuaded,  will  by  you  be  deemed  a  sufficient 
apology  for  what   I  am   about  to  say. 

The  first  of  these  enterprises  is  the  one  that  led  me 
to  select  Brooklyn  as  my  place  of  residence.  Having 
acquired  an  interest  in  the  Atlantic  Dock — an  under- 
taking then  in  its  infancy — I  came  here  in  1844  in 
the  prosecution  of  that  interest.  The  construction 
of  this  dock  engaged  my  attention,  and  for  a  series 
of  years  chiefly  constituted  my  business.  I  had 
associates  with  me,  and  though  we  were  all  hope- 
ful as  to  the  future,  we  soon  discovered  that,  in 
order  to  realize  our  expectations,  we  must  wait  for 
that  future.  Not  one  of  those  originally  engaged 
with  me  in  this  undertaking  lived  to  see  the  time 
when  the  Atlantic  Dock  Company  made  a  dividend 
to  its  stockholders.  Indeed,  I  was  soon  left  alone, 
with  the  exception    of    a   most    excellent    secretary. 


15 

who  drew  the  first  dividend  check  in  1870,  which 
was  twenty-six  years  after  I  embarked  in  the  work. 
That,  gentlemen,  was  a  pretty  severe  tax  on  one's 
patience  and  hope.  The  facts  of  the  present  are  that 
the  Atlantic  Dock  is  now  a  completed  undertaking. 
Two  hundred  acres  of  land  reclaimed  from  tide 
water,  and  added  to  the  habitable  area  of  this  city ; 
a  resident  population  of  fifteen  thousand  persons 
upon  the  land  thus  reclaimed  ;  docks  two  miles  in 
length,  and  warehouses  built  thereon  with  a  front- 
age of  one  mile  ;  the  annual  storage  of  a  vast 
commerce  brought  to  this  great  metropolitan  center  ; 
an  assessed  valuation  of  property  that  pays  one-two- 
hundredth  part  of  the  taxes  of  this  city,  such  is  the 
spectacle  now  presented  to  the  eye  of  thought. 

The  second  undertaking  with  which  I  have  been 
connected,  is  the  construction  of  Prospect  Park. 
The  people  of  this  city  in  1859,  now  almost  thirty 
years  ago,  began  earnestly  to  demand  legislation  for 
the  twofold  purpose  of  park  improvements  and 
parade  grounds.  The  Legislature  of  the  State,  in 
response  to  this  demand,  appointed  a  commission 
charged  with  the  duty  of  selecting  suitable  sites  for 
each  of  these  purposes.  This  commission,  the  next 
year,  recommended  that  the  necessary  grounds  be 
taken  for  two  parks.  The  larger  and  more  im- 
portant of  these  parks  Avas  to  be  located  in  close 
connection  with  the  great  eastern  cemeteries  and 
Ridge  wood  Reservoir,  and  to  embrace  1,300  acres  of 
land.  The  other  park,  about  one-fifth  as  large, 
was  to  be  so  located  as  to  include  the  reservoir  at 
Prospect  Hill,  near  the  site  of  the  present  Prospect 
Park.     It  was  urged  as    an    objection  to    this  plan 


16 

that  a  park  so  far  to  the  east  could  not  properly 
be  regarded  as  the  Central  Park  of  the  city,  and 
that  a  considerable  part  of  it  would,  in  fact,  be 
out  of  the  city  and  out  of  the  County  of  Kings. 
The  close  proximity  of  the  cemeteries  with  a 
pleasure  ground  was  felt  to  be  objectionable.  The 
cost  of  so  large  a  park  in  the  Eastern  District  of 
the  city,  it  was  thought,  would  not  be  properly 
distributed  among  the  people.  A  compromise  was 
finally  reached  to  the  effect  that  the  great  Ridge- 
wood  Park,  if  ever  constructed,  should  be  made  a 
local  enterprise  of  the  Eastern  District,  and  that 
the  proposed  park  at  Prospect  Hill  should  be  con- 
sidered an  affair  of  the  Western  District.  From 
this  compromise  followed  the  arrangement  under 
which  the  Eastern  District  is  now  exempt  from 
taxation  for  the  payment  of  the  expenses  incurred 
in  the  construction  of  Prospect  Park.  This  arrange- 
ment,  though  faulty,   was  a  necessity  at  the    time. 

It  often  happens  in  the  course  of  human  affairs 
that  it  is  not  always  practicable  to  do  exactly  what 
should  be  done,  and  when  this  is  the  fact,  then  the 
dictate  of  wisdom  is  to  do  the  best  that  can  be  done 
under  existing  circumstances. 

The  arguments  in  favor  of  the  construction  of  a 
park  in  Brooklyn,  as  used  at  the  time,  and  presented 
at  public  meetings  and  through  the  press,  as  I  now 
recall  them,  touched  on  a  variety  of  points  relating 
to  this  city.  The  health,  strength,  comfort,  morality, 
and  future  wealth  of  the  city  would  be  promoted  by 
building  a  suitable  park.  Brooklyn,  though  possess- 
ing cei-tain  obvious  natural  advantages  over  New 
York,  but  with   less  wealth   and   population,   was  in 


17 

danger  of  sinking  into  the  character  of  a  second- 
rate  suburb  of  the  greater  city.  It  was  also  urged 
that  the  construction  of  Central  Park  in  New  York 
placed  Brooklyn  at  a  special  disadvantage  in  bringing 
to  itself  taxable  capital,  and  that  a  park  was  needed 
to  overcome  this  disadvantage. 

The  Croton  water-works  in  New  York  made  similar 
works  in  this  city  a  local  necessity  to  its  prosperity 
and  growth.  These  and  the  like  thoughts  controlled 
the  people  in  desiring  and  demanding  the  construc- 
tion of  Prospect  Park.  The  splendid  boulevard, 
extending  from  the  park  to  Coney  Island,  is  an 
appendage  thereto,  and  will,  in  the  end  and  at  no 
distant  period,  be  a  part  of  the  City  of  Brooklyn. 

All  the  members  of  the  first  Board  of  Park  Com- 
missioners, with  the  single  exception  of  myself,  are 
now  dead  and  their  bodies  sleeping  in  Greenwood 
Cemetery,  and  of  those  who  have  served  with  me  at 
different  times  as  members  of  this  Board  but  few  remain. 
It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  say,  on  this  occasion,  that 
better  and  more  cordial  support  no  one  could  expect 
or  desire  than  that  which  was  given  to  me  by  my 
associates  during  my  entire  administration  of  park 
affairs.  Differences  of  opinion  so  rarely  occurred  that 
in  but  three  instances  during  the  twenty-two  years 
of  my  Presidency  of  the  Board  did  measures  brought 
before  the  members  thereof  fail  of  a  unanimous  adop- 
tion. My  associates  were  wise  and  able  men,  and 
shared  with  me  the  responsibility  of  this  great  work. 
In  this  connection  allow  me  to  add  the  fact  that 
Prospect  Park  had  the  full  benefit  of  the  skill  and 
experience  of  the  ablest  landscape  architects  in  this 
or  any  other  country. 


18 

Looking  back,  as  I  now  do,  upon  the  past,  and 
recalling  its  facts,  I  may  iis  well  say  that  my  hardest 
task  in  the  administration  of  park  matters  consisted 
in  keeping  the  public  mind  in  such  active  and  effect- 
ive sympathy  with  the  undertaking  as  was  needed  to 
obtain  the  necessary  legislation  and  also  the  funds 
requisite  at  the  proper  time  and  in  sufficient  amount 
to  secure  a  speedy  and  economical  construction  of 
the  park.  I  refer  in  this  general  remark  to  legis- 
lators, partisan  leaders,  speculating  theorists,  and 
especially  to  a  small  class  of  irrepressible  men,  some- 
times designated  as  '^  cranks,^'  who  usually  have  the 
misfortune  of  thinking  that  wisdom  was  born  with 
them  and  that  it  will  surely  die  with  them.  The 
last  of  these  classes  was  always  the  source  of  my 
greatest  embarrassment  in  conducting  the  construc- 
tion of  the  park.  I  am  grateful  that  the  work  is 
done,  and  that  my  special  duties  in  connection  there- 
with are  ended.  The  park  speaks  for  itself,  and 
will  continue  to  do  so  in  all  coming  time.  I  had 
no  other  interest,  in  undertaking  and  prosecuting 
this  work,  at  a  very  considerable  expenditure  of  time 
and  toil  and  care,  than  that  which  is  common  to  me 
and  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn ;  and  if,  in  this  way,  I 
have  been  able  to  render  a  good  service  to  the  city 
I  am  heartily  glad  that  the  opportunity  was  afforded 
to  me  and  that  the  service  has  been  cheerfully 
rendered.  I  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  I  would 
not  blot  out  the  record  of  that  service  if  I  could ; 
and  I  do  not  at  this  time  see  how  I  could  essentially 
change  it  for  the  better.  That  it  commands  your 
approval  is  to  me  a  source  of  great  gratification. 

The    third    undertaking    with   which    I    have   had 


19 

some  connection,  is  the  construction  of  the  East  River 
Bridge.  I  assume  that  you  will  expect  at  least  a 
word  from  me  on  this  subject.  While  much  might 
be  said,  the  proprieties  of  the  hour  dictate  that  my 
utterance  should  be  brief. 

No  candid  man  who  knows  the  history  of  this 
bridge  can  fail  to  award  special  honor  to  "William  C. 
Kingsley  and  Henry  C.  Murphy,  both  of  whom  are 
now  sleeping  in  their  graves,  or  to  the  chief  engi- 
neers, the  elder  and  the  younger  Eoebling,  the 
former  of  whom  lost  his  life,  and  the  latter  his 
health  in  a  work  second  to  no  other  of  its  kind  in 
any  age.  The  skill  and  vigilant  care  of  the  assistant 
engineers  having  the  immediate  charge  of  the  work 
have  attracted  the  attention  and  won  the  admiration 
of  every  intelligent  visitor  of  the  bridge. 

To  say  that  the  bridge  in  the  hands  of  the 
trustees  grew  in  its  dimensions,  and  hence  that 
its  cost  was  increased  beyond  the  original  estimate, 
is  simply  to  state  a  familiar  fact  in  the  history  of 
all  great  works  of  a  like  character.  The  original 
plan  did  not  contemplate  such  a  structure  as  the 
one  finally  built.  The  height  of  the  bridge  was 
increased  in  obedience  to  the  order  of  the  general 
government,  and  also  its  width  and  strength  by  the 
direction  of  the  trustees.  The  bridge  as  actually 
constructed  will  support  the  freight  and  passenger 
trains  of  the  trunk  railways  of  the  country.  It 
has  two  carriage  roads  instead  of  one,  as  first 
intended.  The  approaches  were  at  first  designed  to 
be  simply  iron  trestle  work,  and  for  this  the  trustees 
substituted  massive  arches  of  brick  and  granite. 
The     cables      and      suspended      superstructure      are 


20 

composed  of  steel  and  not  of  iron.  In  a  word, 
the  bridge  as  it  is  now,  though  costing  more  than 
the  original  estimate,  is  higher,  wider  and  stronger 
than  the  one  proposed  in  that  estimate.  It  fur- 
nishes an  elevated  highway  wider  than  Broadway  in 
New   York  between  the  two  cities. 

These  changes  in  the  way  of  improvement  abun- 
dantly explain  the  increase  of  cost.  They  were 
needed  in  order  to  make  the  bridge  what  it  is  and 
what  it  should  be.  Not  to  have  made  them  would, 
in  my  judgment,  have  been  a  grave  mistake. 

Those  who  took  the  deepest  interest  in  the  East 
Eiver  Bridge,  some  of  whom  are  already  gone,  will 
soon  all  pass  away.  Not  one  of  them  will  be  left. 
The  bridge,  however,  will  remain,  as  generations  one 
after  another  come  and  retire,  scarcely  feeling  the 
effects  of  time,  as  strong  after  the  lapse  of  centuries 
as  it  was  in  the  days  of  its  youth.  The  cables  will 
not  lose  their  vigor.  The  towers  will  not  bend  and 
break  under  their  weight.  The  anchorages  will  be 
faithful  to  their  trust.  The  massive  arches  will 
never  collapse.  The  steel  and  the  granite  will  not 
rot.  Fire  will  not  burn  the  bridge.  The  winds  of 
heaven  will  not  shake  it  down.  Time  and  toil  will 
not  bring  to  it  any  fatigue.  There  it  will  remain  for 
ages,  just  where  human  skill  placed  it,  a  permanent 
memorial  of  the  enterprise  of  a  bygone  period. 
Travelers  will  study  it,  the  sightseers  wonder  at  it. 
With  all  my  heart  I  congratulate  Brooklyn  and 
New  York,  and  especially  Brooklyn,  upon  this 
splendid  monument  of  what  it  is  in  the  power  of 
man  to  accomplish  ;  and  as  in  respect  to  Prospect 
Park,   so   in  respect   to   this   bridge.       I   think   with 


21 

pleasure  upon  the  fact  that  I  had  some  share  in  the 
work  of  construction. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  have  spoken  to  you  thus 
briefly  and  from  my  own  knowledge  in  regard  to 
the  three  subjects  that  seem  germane  to  the  pur- 
poses of  this  occasion.  Indeed,  the  letter  of 
invitation  furnished  me  my  text,  and  if  I  have 
been  compelled  to  make  myself  a  part  of  the 
sermon  the  fault  is  yours  and  not  mine.  I  am 
not  so  prudishly  modest  that,  in  telling  a  story,  I 
will  dodge  myself  for  the  sake  of  not  being  seen. 
My  mother  did  not  teach  me  this  lesson  when  I 
was  a  child,  and   I   am  now  too  old  to  learn  it. 

There  is  one  other  subject  upon  which,  before  clos- 
ing these  remarks,  I  think  it  proper  to  say  a  word. 
Brooklyn  and  New  York  are  distinct  municipalities, 
separated  from  each  other  by  the  East  Eiver.  Is 
this  an  advantage  to  either  ?  I  think  not.  Would 
the  consolidation  of  these  two  cities  into  one  muni- 
cipal corporation  involve  any  harm  to  either  ?  I 
think  not.  The  people  in  both  are  essentially  the 
same  sort  of  people,  living  under  the  same  general 
government  and  the  same  state  government.  They 
have  the  same  manners  and  customs  and  also 
common  industrial,  commercial  and  social  interests, 
and  one  municipal  government  for  local  purposes 
would  serve  them  quite  as  well  as  two,  and  at  far 
less  cost.  I  know  of  no  reason  why  this  municipal 
distinctness  should  be  continued,  other  than  the  fact 
that  it  now  exists,  and  I  confess  that  I  can  see  no 
good  reason  why  it  should  exist  at  all.  I  may 
be  mistaken,  but   I  think    that  the  people    of  both 


22 

cities  should  seek  a  consolidation  of  both  under  the 
title  of  New  York. 

London  is  London  on  both'  sides  of  the  Thames, 
and  Paris  is  Paris  on  both  sides  of  the  Seine.  Bridges 
make  the  connection  between  these  sides  in  the  two 
cities,  and  neither  would  gain  anything  by  a  division 
into  two  municipalities.  Here,  however,  we  have  our 
City  of  New  York  on  one  side  of  the  East  River 
and  our  City  of  Brooklyn  on  the  other  side.  So  it 
has  been  in  the  past,  and  so,  I  hope,  it  will  not 
always   be  in    the  future. 

The  East  River  Bridge,  now  added  to  the  ferry 
system,  and  probably  to  be  succeeded  by  other  similar 
structures,  will,  as  I  trust,  so  affiliate  the  two  cities 
in  heart  and  sympathy,  and  so  facilitate  their  mutual 
intercourse  that  both,  without  any  special  court- 
ship on  the  part  of  either,  will  alike  ask  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  to  enact  the  ceremony  of  a 
municipal  marriage.  As  I  cannot  doubt,  such  a 
marriage  would  be  an  indissoluble  union  between 
the  two.  Each  would  be  so  well  pleased  with  the 
other,  and  each  so  proud  of  the  other  that  neither 
would  ever  seek  a  divorce.  The  marriage  would  be 
for  life,  and  that  life  would  last  as  long  as  the 
world  lasts.  New  York  and  Brooklyn  thus  united 
and  forming  the  great  city  of  this  Western  Conti- 
nent, would  at  once  take  rank  with  the  largest  cities 
known  to  mankind.  The  spectacle  would  be  a 
splendid  one  in  the  records  of  city  life.  Every  year 
would  add  to  it  greatness  and  grandeur.  The  consoli- 
dated city  would  in  itself  be  an  empire  of  industry, 
wealth  and  intelligence,  and  eminently  fit  to  be  the 
great    metropolitan    centre    of  a    country,   stretching 


23 

from  the  Atlantic  to   the   Pacific  and  from   Canada 
to  the   Gulf   of  Mexico. 

I  have  one  more  thought,  gentlemen,  which,  as 
I  trust,  will  not  be  deemed  out  of  place  on  this 
occasion.  My  age  forcibly  reminds  me  that  with 
me,  the  earthly  things  of  which  I  have  spoken  to 
you,  must  soon  give  place  to  things  of  a  different 
character  and  a  much  higher  order.  It  is  no 
seeret  to  you,  as  it  is  none  to  me,  that  before  us 
lies  a  yawning  gulf  upon  which  we  must  all  at 
last  be  launched.  Religious  faith,  with  its  anchor- 
ages and  towers  resting  upon  the  solid  rock  of  God 
himself,  and  that  only  can  bridge  that  gulf  and 
land  thought  safely  on  the  further  shore.  Such 
faith  is  the  common  necessity  of  our  race.  No 
elevation  of  intelligence  can  either  supersede  it  or 
do  its  work.  There  is  no  registration  for  man  so 
exalted  or  so  rich  in  the  privileges  and  immunities 
which  it  secures  and  guarantees,  as  that  which 
places  his  name  in  "The  Lamb's  Book  of  Life." 
May  God  grant  us  all  a  peaceful  and  happy  transit 
from  this  changing  scene  to  the  brighter  and  better 
world  above. 

Mr.  Stranahan's  speech  was  applauded  at 
different  poiuts,  and  when  he  resumed  his  seat 
there  was  great  clapping  of  hands  and  waving 
of  handkerchiefs  and  napkins. 


24 

The  Chairman  next  introduced  Rev.  It.  S. 
Storrs,  D.D.,  who  was  greeted  with  applause. 
Dr.   Storrs  spoke  as  follows: 

SPEECH  OF  REV.  R.  S.  STORRS,  D.  D. 

I  thank  you.  Gentlemen,  for  your  extremely  kind 
welcome,  although  I  confess  that  I  am  a  little  per- 
plexed with  doubt  as  to  whether  it  is  intended  for 
me.  For,  in  spite  of  a  great  many  extremely  kind 
and  flattering  invitations,  I  have  not  before  attended 
a  public  dinner  for  so  many  years  that  I  have  been 
quite  uncertain  of  my  own  identity,  while  I  have 
been  sitting  here  this  evening.  I  have  been  sound- 
ing Judge  McCue,  to  find  out  whether  it  was  really 
I,  or  whether  somebody  else  had  got  into  my  coat, 
trousers  and  boots  ;  and  I  am  not  quite  sure  now 
that  it  is  not  the  other  man,  and  that  he  should 
return  thanks.  But  I  am — that  is,  if  it  is  I — ex- 
tremely glad  to  be  here  this  evening.  I  am  glad 
to  see  the  beautiful,  ample,  elegant  interior  of  this 
building,  which  I  have  never  seen  before,  though 
I  pass  it  so  often  in  my  daily  walks,  and  though 
in  it  I  know  that  so  many  of  my  friends  find  a 
pleasant  half-home  when  any  necessity  turns  them 
hither,  as  well  as,  of  course,  a  great  many  delightful 
hours  with  one  another  and  with  others  when 
they  are  at  leisure.  I  was  very  much  interested, 
at  the  beginning,  in  the  establishment  of  this  Club, 
and  knew  something  of  it  when  it  was  in  its 
modest  quarters  on  the  corner  of  Joralemon  street ; 
and  I  am  extremely  glad  this  evening  to  see  the 
evidences  all  around  me  of  its  growth  and  prosperity; 


25 

and  I  trust  that  its  prosperity  and  power  will  con- 
tinually increase  in  the  years  to  come.  [Applause.] 
I  am  certainly  extremely  glad  to  join  with  you 
this  evening  in  offering  this  tribute  of  esteem  and 
admiration  and  honor  to  him  who  is  the  principal 
guest  on  this  occasion.  [Applause.]  In  fact,  Gentle- 
men, 1  have  been  moved  to  think,  for  a  good  while, 
that  it  would  be  better  if  we  should  show  our  senti- 
ments of  confidence  and  honor  toward  those  who 
are  pre-eminent  among  us,  more  freely  and  more 
frequently  than  we  do.  [Good !  Good  I]  We  live 
all  the  time  in  a  kind  of  critical  and  censorious 
atmosphere.  The  papers  ax^  always  good  natured. 
[Applause.]  They  never  say  hard  things  about  any- 
body. [Laughter.]  But  we  private  citizens  are 
sometimes  in  the  way,  perhaps  even  here,  of  express- 
ing ourselves  in  sharp  comment  on  those  from  whom 
we  differ,  and  yet  for  whom  we  have  sincere  esteem 
and  respect.  "Well,  no  honorable  man  wants  to  be 
flattered ;  but  every  man  likes  a  certain  degree  of 
appreciation,  if  he  has  done  anything  to  deserve  it. 
And  his  faculties  work  better  in  an  atmosphere  of 
that  sort.  [Applause.]  The  sunshine  makes  the 
flowers  bloom  brighter,  makes  the  trees  bourgeon,  and 
expand  their  branches.  And  I  do  wish  that  there 
were  more  of  this  spirit  of  common  regard,  of  es- 
teem, of  affectionate  honor,  familiarly  expressed  by 
us  toward  those  who  have  been  our  eminent  leaders, 
as  this  man  has  been.  [Applause.]  I  think  it  would 
be  well  for  all  of  us  now  and  then  to  bring  some- 
thing of  the  golden  light  of  the  sunset,  after  the 
orb  has  descended  below  the  horizon,  into  the  after- 
noon sky  of  those  whom  we  love.     [Applause.] 


26  ^'^ 

I  am  a  contemporary  of  Mr.  Stranahan,  although 
he  got  ahead  of  me  in  the  matter  of  being  born. 
[Laughter.]  He  came  upon  tlie  planet  twelve  or 
thirteen  years  before  I  did,  and  I  have  never  been 
able  to  catch  up.  But  I  tried  to  diminish  the  dis- 
tance, as  Randolph  said  when  pursuing  the  man 
who  was  trying  to  get  away  from  him,  for  I  came 
to  Brooklyn  in  1846,  while  he  came  in  1844,  two  years 
before.  And  so  I  have  watched  his  work,  and  have 
seen  these  things  which  he  has  referred  to,  from  the 
root  upward.  A  great  many  things  he  has  not 
referred  to.  For  example,  he  has  not  spoken  of  his 
connection  with  the  War  Fund  Committee,  in  our 
critical  time.  [Applause.]  He  has  not  spoken  of 
his  connection  with  a  great  many  of  our  institutions; 
with  the  Atheneum,  which  has  started  many  other 
things  in  this  city ;  with  the  libraries  and  galleries 
which  have  made  the  city  attractive  and  beautiful. 
He  has  not  spoken  of  his  connection  with  the  Ferry 
Company,  of  which  he  is  the  president.  But  he 
has  spoken  of  three  things.  Well,  they  are  great 
things;  and  I  cannot  help  thinking  how  much  came 
into  this  City  of  Brooklyn  when  Mr.  Stranahan 
brought  his  wife  and  children  here,  forty-four  years 
ago.  How  much  came  with  this  head,  and  with  this 
will  ;  and  as  much  with  the  will  as  in  the  head ! 
Tliose  Atlantic  Docks,  of  which  he  has  spoken, 
representing  the  noblest  part  of  the  business  of 
Brooklyn,  and  representing  great  business  sagacity 
and  patience  on  his  part,  and  on  the  part  of  those 
associated  with  him.  Yonder  bridge,  which  opens 
for  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn  a  highway  to  the  uni- 
verse ;    which  takes  us   out  of  the  old  isolation,  and 


87 

makes  our  city  immediately  a  part,  whether  muni- 
cipally annexed  in  form  or  not,  of  the  great  City 
of  New  York,  and  facilitates  our  intercourse  with 
all  the  world ;  illustrating  the  free  and  far-sighted 
large-mindedness  of  the  man  [applause],  and  of  all 
the  other  men  who  were  associated  with  him  in 
the  enterprise,  and  who  co-operated  with  him  so 
gladly  and   so  intelligently. 

And  then.  Prospect  Park  I — illustrating  his  love  of 
beauty,  his  appreciation  of  its  necessity  and  benefit 
in  the  civilization  of  our  city,  and  representing  that 
ornamentation  of  the  great  growing  town  which  it  pre- 
eminently needed,  and  which  it  is  to  need  for  all  time 
to  come.  Of  these  three  great  enterprises  of  wliich 
he  spoke,  I  don't  know  but  the  park  is  his  particular 
pet  and  pride.  It  ought  to  be.  He  gave  twenty-two 
years  of  his  life  to  that  park.  I  will  not  say  the  best 
years  of  his  life,  because  the  years  that  went  before 
were,  perhaps,  just  as  good ;  and  I  don't  know  but 
the  years  that  have  come  after  have  been  as  rich,  and 
ripe,  and  mellow,  and  noble,  as  any  that  went  before 
them,  or  as  any  that  may  still  come  after  them.  But 
he  gave  twenty-two  years  of  the  best  of  his  life  to  that 
work ;  and  those  of  us  who  saw  the  work  while  it  was 
going  on  know  that  he  watched  it  with  the  solicitude 
with  which  a  mother  watches  her  sleeping  babe. 
There  was  hardly  a  tree  removed,  or  a  tree  planted, 
hardly  a  drive  or  a  walk  laid  out,  or  a  bit  of  shrub- 
bery planted  here  or  there,  to  which  his  personal 
attention  was  not  given.  It  is  all  very  well  for  him 
to  say  that  they  had  the  best  landscape  arehitects  in 
the  world,  but  they  could  not  have  done  anything 
without  him.      It  is  very  well  for  him  to   say   that 


28 

there  were  wise  and  able  men  associated  with 
him,  and  they  were  wise ;  and  they  showed  that 
they  were  wise  and  able  by  always  making  their 
agreement  with  him  unanimous.  [Applause.]  I 
don't  know  what  he  would  have  done  if  he  had  had 
that  other  park  of  1,300  acres  ! 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  said  of  Rubens,  if  I  remember 
aright,  that  his  genius  always  expanded  with  his  can- 
vas, his  best  pictures  being  uniformly  his  largest.  We 
can  see  what  Mr.  Stranahan  did  with  550  acres : 
creating  beauty  and  harmony,  and  crowning  the  hills 
with  the  ornament  which  art  has  placed  upon 
them ;  taking  that  rough,  rocky,  hilly  waste,  as  we 
remember  it,  and  making  it  the  pleasure-ground  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  for  all  time  to  come ;  taking 
that  narrow,  winding  country  road,  if  there  was  any 
there,  which  I  doubt,  and  converting  it  into  the 
magnificent  broad  boulevard,  fronting  the  sea  on 
one  side  and  the  park  on  the  other,  which  gives  to 
Brooklyn  fame  in  the  country,  and,  in  a  degree,  fame 
in  the  world  I  "What  a  tremendous  work  it  was  to 
do !  I  think  if  he  had  had  the  other  1,300  acres 
under  his  care  we  should  have  had  a  succession  of 
parks  that  would  have  astonished  the  continent. 

Now  this  is  his  monument.  [Applause.  ]  People  say, 
not  infrequently,  "  By  and  by  we  must  put  a  statue 
of  Mr.  Stranahan  in  Prospect  Park."  Of  course  we 
must.  But  I  don't  see  why  we  need  to  wait.  We 
Americans  do  wait.  Perhaps  it  is  in  the  English 
blood.  The  French  don't.  Generally,  here,  men  are 
dead  before  we  raise  statues  to  them.  We  have  to  be 
careful,  we  think,  like  the  English  woman  who  was 
called  up  before  the  judge,  her  husband  having  com- 


29 

mitted  suicide.  The  judge  said  to  her,  "  You  were  the 
first  person  who  saw  him  hanging  '^"  '*  Yes."  "What 
did  you  do?"  ''' Didn't  do  anything."  '^Didn't  do 
anything?  Why  didn't  you  cut  him  down?"  "Cut 
him  down.  Judge  ?  "  repeated  the  woman.  "  Why,  he 
wasn't  dead!"  [Great  laughter.]  Now,  why  not 
start  here  to-night,  with  this  very  live  man  in  front 
of  us,  and  begin  this  business  of  the  statue  ?  There 
are  enough  here  to  begin  this  work,  and  carry  it  to 
success.  I  am  the  most  wretched  solicitor  that  ever 
was  in  the  world,  with  very  little  tact  and  no  experi- 
ence [laughter],  but  I  know  that  we  could  carry  that 
to  absolute  and  triumphant  success  within  thirty  days. 
[Sure.]  So  let  us  not  wait  to  put  up  marble  or 
bronze  after  our  dear  and  honored  friend  has  gone 
from  among  us,  and  we  do  not  see  him  any  more  ! 
But  I  rejoice  to  remember  that  whatever  happens, 
bronze  or  no  bronze,  marble  or  no  marble,  he  can 
take  unto  himseif,  standing  at  any  point  in  Prospect 
Park,  the  words  which  Christopher  Wren  wrote  on 
the  frieze  of  St.  Paul :  "If  you  seek  his  monument, 
look  around  you!"     [Great  applause.] 

I  have  taught  him  some  lessons,  perhaps ;  but  he 
has  certainly  taught  me  one  lesson  worth  remembering 
by  all  of  us :  it  is,  what  a  man  in  private  station 
can  do,  if  he  intelligently  sets  to  work  to  do  it.  We 
are  accustomed  to  think  that  we  must  rely  upon 
those  who  are  in  official  station.  Official  station  may 
not  put  a  man  on  a  pedestal  at  all,  but  in  a  pillory. 
It  may  not  only  not  give  him  any  power  to  work  more 
effectively  than  before,  but  may  diminish  his  power. 
A  man  in  official  station  in  any  of  our  cities  has  to 
consult,  as  far  as   I  can  discover,   those  with  him  in 


30 

sympathy ;  the  contrary  opinion  of  others.  And  if 
there  be  any  circle  of  government  around  him  to  con- 
trol him,  which  there  often  is,  he  has  then  so  to  yield  to 
others  that  he  can  hardly  initiate  and  intrepidly  carry 
forward  to  success  great  enterprises.  We  all  remem- 
ber what  was  said  of  New  York  in  the  time  of  the  late 
lamented  Mr.  Tweed,  that  New  York  City  was  like 
the  sun  in  an  annular  eclipse— nothing  visible  but  the 
ring.  [Laughter.]  There  have  been  other  cities,  since, 
of  which  that  was  true  :  although  I  trust  it  will  never 
be  true  of  this  City  of  Brooklyn.  But  here  is  a  man 
who  has  never  occupied  a  public  office,  of  any  promi- 
nence, except  in  a  post  which  was  made  necessary  by 
his  own  initiatory  enterprise.  He  was  an  alderman 
once,  I  know.  He  couldn't  help  it,  and  it  is  so  long  ago 
that  it  ought  not  to  be  laid  up  against  him.  [Laugh- 
ter and  applause.]  He  was  a  candidate  for  Mayor 
once,  and  I  voted  for  him.  But  the  other  party  were 
too  many  for  us.  But  with  those  exceptions,  as  I 
have  stated,  he  has  held  no  public  office.  He  has 
been  a  Commissioner  of  the  Bridge,  as  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  efficient  promoters  of  that  great 
enterprise.  But  it  has  been  as  a  private  citizen  that 
he  has  undertaken  and  carried  forward  these  magnifi- 
cent enterprises.  I  say  that  here  is  a  lesson  for  every 
one.  He  has  given  us  this  park,  which  even  those 
whom  the  Mayor  has  perhaps  incautiously  and  un- 
wisely put  in  charge  of  it,  under  the  presidency  of 
General  Woodward,  cannot  seriously  injure.  I  apply 
the  "incautious"  and  '^ unwise"  to  those  who  are 
imder  General  Woodward,  of  whom  I  happen  to  be 
one,  but  never  to  him  ! 

Now,  I  hold  it  a  great  lesson  that  a  man  in  simply 


31 


a  private  station  can  start  upon  a  grand  work  for 
a  great  city,  and  carry  it  to  success  and  to  accom- 
plishment in  his  own  time  I  But  then  he  has  taught 
me,  at  any  rate,  the  lesson  of  patience  ;  patience,  and 
quietness  of  spirit,  in  the  midst  of  many  things  cal- 
culated to  disturb  the  spirit.  Undoubtedly  he  has 
had  his  disappointments ;  hopes  which  he  justly  and 
reasonably  entertained  he  has  been  unable  to  carry 
to  success ;  projects  dear  to  his  mind  have  failed  to  be 
realized.  And  he  has  been  subjected  to  as  severe 
criticism,  at  different  times,  as  any  man  among  us ; 
called,  as  we  know,  a  wizard  and  a  magician ;  accused 
of  working  in  the  dark,  mining  subterraneously ; 
accused  of  doing  I  know  not  what  all ;  perhaps 
accused  of  putting  money  in  his  own  pocket,  but 
upon  the  whole  I  think  that  that  charge  has  never 
been  started.  But  he  has  been  as  quiet  in  it  all  as 
if  every  one  spoke  well  of  him.  It  has  been  a  noble 
example  which  he  has  given.  I  have  to  learn  a  lesson 
in  that  direction  myself.  After  we  have  been  thor- 
oughly trounced  in  some  public  fashion  by  some  man, 
or  possibly  by  a  newspaper,  we  do  not  exactly  like  it. 
"We  feel  inclined  to  sympathize  with  the  schoolboy 
who  was  walking  home  rather  stiffly,  as  though  he 
had  lately  had  some  sore  experience.  Meeting  a  sports- 
man who  said  to  him,  "  Is  there  any  game  around 
here?'*  he  replied,  ''There  are  no  bears,  or  wood- 
chucks,  but  there's  the  schoolmaster  over  there  ;  you 
might  go  over  and  take  a  pop  at  him,  it  would  be 
an  advantage  to  the  community."  [Laughter  and 
applause.]  Well,  I  don't  know  how  much  strife  of 
the  spirit  our  dear  and  honored  friend  has  had 
within    himself,    but    I    know    that    he    has    never 


82 

expressed  in  public  any  uneasiness  at  any  attacks 
made  upon  him.  There  is  a  word  you  rarely  see  in 
English.  The  French  have  it,  the  Spaniards  have  it, 
and  the  Italians  have  it :  a  word  of  Latin  derivation — 
longanimity.  It  is  the  temper  that  waits  patiently, 
that  expects  to  be  vindicated  in  the  result,  that 
silently  endures  accusation,  to  be  at  last  crowned 
with  victory.  That  we  have  in  this  man.  I  honor 
him  for  it ;  and  I  have  tried  to  learn  the  lesson  from 
him.  And  then,  an  inventive  and  heroic  public 
spirit  has  been  always  manifest  in  him  ;  and  that. 
Gentlemen,  is  what  more  than  anything  else  we  need 
for  our  civic  prosperity. 

Here  are  two  Brooklyns.  One  is  the  Brooklyn  of 
convenience  ;  the  Brooklyn  of  streets,  and  shops,  and 
markets,  and  churches,  and  schools,  and  pleasant 
homes.  Here  is  another  Brooklyn,  which  has  come 
into  existence  and  appearance ;  it  is  the  Brooklyn  of 
art  and  culture,  which  makes  the  city  attractive  to 
those  who  desire  to  live  on  the  higher  plane  of  largest 
life ;  who  would  fill  the  atmosphere  of  society  here 
with  a  welcome  to  the  noble,  the  true,  and  the  beauti- 
ful, in  learning  and  in  art.  And  we  must  have  the 
inventive  faculty,  the  intrepid  public  spirit  which 
works  to  great  ends,  to  hasten  the  coming  of  that 
nobler,  and  brighter,  and  more  fascinating  Brooklyn ; 
that  so  this  city  may  not  only  remain  happy  and  lovely, 
as  it  has  been,  but  may  become  the  happiest  and 
loveliest  in  the  country — on  the  continent.  We  want 
that  public  spirit  which  flinches  at  no  obstacle;  ready 
to  devise  wise  plans,  to  be  an  inventor  of  good  things, 
and  then  heroically  to  accomplish  those  plans  and 
carry  them    into    perfect    execution.     We  want   this 


83 

spirit  in  private  citizens,  not  merely  in  public  officials. 
Without  it  our  dwellings  are  but  hardened  mud,  and 
our  marble  buildings  may  be  sepulchres  of  decaying 
life.  But  when  we  have  this,  we  can  make  the  city 
glorious  and  beautiful — a  very  Queen  in  the  Nation, 
whose  power  and  influence  shall  go  throughout  the 
land.  Now,  who  will  follow  these  men  who  have 
gone  before,  in  this  quality  of  heroic  and  inventive 
public  spirit  ?  I  saw,  just  before  I  came  here,  some 
words  written  concerning  our  friend,  by  one  who  is 
dear  to  him — the  dedication  of  a  volume,  elaborate, 
learned,  rich,  on  the  history  of  French  Art.  And  it 
struck  me  that  it  expressed  my  own  feeling  precisely. 
I  count  it  an  honor  and  a  pleasure  of  my  life  to  have 
been  so  many  years  here  associated,  on  terms  of 
unbroken  confidence  and  fellowship,  with  one  of  whom 
these  words  could  be  written :  *'  To  my  Husband :  in 
honor  of  the  rare  qualities  of  his  service  to  others, 
through  his  ready  perception  of  the  rights  of  kinship, 
citizenship,  and  humanity.'^     [Great  applause.] 

Chairman  Olcott — A  paper  has  just  been  sent 
up  to  me  which  reads  : 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  meeting  that 
a  bridge  to  be  called  the  Stranahan  Bridge  should 
be  built  from  the  foot  of  Broadway,  New  York,  to 
Governor's  Island  and  thence  to  Brooklyn,  which 
bridge  shall  not  be  less  in  height  and  general  effective 
sufficiency  than  the  now  existing  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  Bridge. 

I  do  not  know  who  sent  it.  One  advantage 
to  the  Club  in  honoring  one   who  is   still   hale 

3 


34 

and  hearty  is  tliat  it  lias  brouglit  out  some 
members  who  do  not  come  to  tlie  Olub  so  often 
as  I  would  like  to  see  them.  Among  them  is 
Judge  Alexander  McCue.  [Applause.]  I  ask  him 
now  to  say  something  to  us. 

Judge  McCue  had  a  fine  reception,  and,  wait- 
ing until  the  applause  subsided,  he  made  these 
remarks: 

REMARKS  OF  JUDGE  McCUE. 

I  wish,  gentlemen,  I  could  offer  you  anything  that 
would  be  worthy  of  the  occasion,  but  after  the  address 
that  has  been  delivered  by  our  distinguished  guest, 
and  the  remarks  of  Dr.  Storrs,  I  do  not  think  I 
could  interest  you.  I  was  very  glad  to  be  invited 
to  come  here,  because,  although  I  have  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Hamilton  Club,  this  is  the  first  time  I 
have  ever  visited  the  Club.  I  came,  too,  because  I 
have  a  very  great  respect  for  the  distinguished  gen- 
tleman who  is  your  guest.  I  have  known  him  for  a 
great  many  years.  I  do  not  think  I  have  known  him 
eighty  years,  or  eighty-one  years,  but  I  have  known 
him  since  he  commenced  the  building  of  the  Atlantic 
Dock — about  that  time.  I  knew  him  well  during 
the  building  of  the  bridge,  and  while  it  is  true  that 
Mr.  Kingsley  and  Mr.  Murphy  were  strong  men  in 
the  building  of  the  bridge — indeed,  Mr.  Kingsley  was 
really  the  originator,  and  Mr.  Murphy  was  the  wise 
man  who  directed  the  legislation  through  which  the 
bridge  was  accomplished — still,  after  all,  I  know  that 
Mr.  Stranahan  was  really  the  main  man  there.     He 


36 

was  the  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee.  He 
was  the  man  who  suggested  how  to  raise  the  money. 
He  suggested  everything  that  was  possible  for  the 
purpose  of  making  everything  smooth  and  pleasant, 
and  we  had  some  very  troublous  times  when  the 
bridge  was  building.  He  was  really  the  man  who 
was  entitled  to  a  great  deal  of  the  credit  for  that. 

Of  course,  there  are  many  men  in  the  City  of 
Brooklyn  who  have  been  very  important  figures  in 
the  different  works  to  which  Mr.  Stranahan  has 
referred.  Of  course,  he  could  not  do  it  alone.  He 
has  had  to  have  legislation ;  he  has  had  to  have 
help  in  the  cities  of  Brooklyn  and  New  York,  but 
he  has  always  been  a  very  strong  and  reliable  man, 
and  while  I  can  give  credit  to  other  gentlemen  who 
have  contributed  in  these  works,  I  must  say  of  Mr. 
Stranahan  he  was  the  prudent  man  all  the  time. 
He  was  a  sagacious  man.  He  was  the  man  who 
threw  oil  on  the  troubled  waters.  Without  such  a 
man  a  great  many  of  the  things  spoken  of  to-night 
would  not   have  been   accomplished. 

Now,  as  to  the  suggestion  that  there  be  a  statue 
of  Mr.  Stranahan  erected,  I  think  it  is  a  good  one, 
and  I  recommend  that  it  be  taken  up  actively  so 
that  we  may  experience  the  gratification  of  having 
a  representation  of  Mr.  Stranahan  in  his  favorite 
place  in  the  Park.  May  it  be  many  years  before 
he  is  taken   away  from   us. 

The  Chairman — Another  of  our  members  who 
does  not  come  in  so  often  as  we  would  like, 
although    more    often    than    Judge  McCue,   has 


36 

just   entered — the    Rev.    Dr.    Charles    H.  Hall. 
We  will  now  hear  from  Dr.   Hall. 

There  was  loud  hand  clapping  mingled  with 
cheering  at  the  introduction  of  the  popular  and 
eloquent  divine.  Dr.  Hall  surveyed  the  enthusi- 
astic company  and  then  proceeded  to  say  these 
things : 

SPEECH   OF  REV.  DR.  HALL. 

Dr.  Storrs  is  certainly  as  unfair  a  man  as  I  know. 
I  would  have  talcen  about  the  same  line  of  thought, 
though  without  so  much  embellishment,  and  I  would 
certainly  have  repeated  what  he  has  said,  in  a  less 
ornate  form.  I  am  among  the  younger  members 
of  Brooklyn.  I  have  been  here  some  twenty 
years,  and,  finding  it  good  enough  for  me,  I  have 
stuck  to  it  ever  since  and  propose  to  do  so  for 
some  time  to  come.  The  old  saying  of  the  classics 
is  that  we  can  count  no  man  happy  till  he  dies. 
I  think  we  can  count  Mr.  Stranahan  happy  to- 
night. I  have  been  watching  his  countenance  with 
affectionate  interest.  All  of  his  fellow  citizens  have 
a  desire  to  express  for  him,  while  he  is  still  in  the 
bloom  of  youth,  the  affectionate  reverence  we  all 
have  for  him.  The  works  he  has  done  for  the  city 
have  brought  him  into  a  position  among  us  that 
teaches  me  a  lesson  that  has  not  been  mentioned, 
and  that  is,  that  it  is  very  often  that  the  best 
part  of  a  man's  life  to  be  roundly  abused ;  and 
that  that  abuse  is  certain  to  come  to  a  man  when- 
ever he  gets  to  a  point  where  he  thinks  to  amount 
to  anything. 


37 

And  in  looking  back  over  life  myself  I  have  great 
gratitude  now  toward  those  who  have  helped  me  to 
understand  myself  a  little  better  than  I  did  when 
as  a  young  man  I  came  across  these  Brooklyn 
Heights,  vastly  different  then  from  now ;  in  front 
of  Trinity  Church,  where  the  old  sleepers  then  lay 
— I   don't  mean    sleepers    above    the    platform,    but  y 

where  the  sleepers  lay  as  it  was  being  built.  To 
think  of  those  days  and  Brooklyn  as  it  then  was, 
a  suburb  of  New  York,  with  a  cow-path  marking 
the  future  line  of  Fulton  street  ;  the  lines  of  Mon- 
tague street,  then  not  a  street  but  a  waste,  and 
no  houses  till  we  got  down  to  Harrison  street. 
But  it  is  not  my  desire  to  speak  at  any  length  to- 
night. 

I  concur  most  heartily  in  what  has  been  said 
concerning  Mr.  Stranahan.  The  euterprise  which  he 
has  carried  out  and  his  labors  through  the  storms 
he  has  encountered  certainly  have  made  for  him  to- 
night a  very  proud  record,  and  I  shall  pay  Dr. 
Storrs  the  compliment  of  not  soaring  any  higher 
than  to  express  to  Mr.  Stranahan  the  judgment  of 
all  those   whose   opinion   is   of  any  value. 

The  Chairman — The  gentlemen  who  got  up 
this  Dinner  have  done  faithful  work.  While 
they  have  all  done  their  share,  I  think  to  Mr. 
Willis  L.  Ogden  belongs  a  good  deal  of  credit. 
I  believe  it  was  at  his  suggestion  the  large 
floral  decoration  was  sent  down,  before  we  com- 
menced speaking,  to  Mrs.  Stranahan.  I  have 
just  received  this  in  reply  (reading) : 


38 

To  the  members  of  the  Hamilton  Club  partici- 
pating in  the  Dinner  in  honor  of  her  husband,  Mrs, 
Stranahan  sends  thanks  for  the  fact  that  though, 
owing  to  circumstances  beyond  her  control,  she  is 
absent,  she  is  not  forgotten  ;  also,  that  to  her, 
indeed,  are  accorded  the  flowers  of  the  feast :  the 
visible  symbol,  if  not,  possibly,  by  some  occult  force, 
the  very   materialization,  of  its   wit  and  reason. 

The  Chairman — No  discussion  of  any  subject 
connected  with  the  bridge  would  be  complete 
without  hearing  from  our  worthy  member,  Gen- 
eral A.   C.   Barnes. 

SPEECH  OF  GENERAL  A.  C.  BARNES. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen — I  think  there 
can  be  no  fitter  occasion  or  subject  for  one  of  these 
Hamilton  symposia  than  the  one  we  have  to-night. 
The  serene  gentleman  who  sits  by  your  side,  sir, 
seems  to  provoke  eulogium.  And  why  may  he  not 
be  received  by  this  company  ?  For  we  all  acknowl- 
edge him  to  be  the  Abraham  of  our  civic  faith, 
the  Nestor  of  our  municipal  policy,  and,  if  you 
please,  the  DeLesseps  of  our  metropolitan  achieve- 
ment. To-night,  I  think  we  may  add,  the  Samuel 
who  prophesied  the  union  of  our  two  cities.  All 
of  these  titles  he  has  earned  right  here  in  Brooklyn, 
and  while  he  is  still  younger  than  any  of  the 
original  worthies  to  whom  I  have  ventured  to  com- 
pare him,  when  Mr.  Stranahan  is  full  grown  I 
think  we  shall  be  surprised  at  what  he  will 
accomplish.     At  all  events,  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to 


39 

us  to  be  here  to  meet  him  and  to  express  to  him 
our  cordial  feelings,  and  I  for  one  am  proud  to 
have  the  opportunity  to  lift  up  my  voice  in  that 
line. 

I  will  endeavor  to  address  myself,  sir,  as  you  have 
suggested,  to  that  phase  of  our  friend's  career  with 
which  I  was  familiar  for  several  years  personally, 
namely,  his  labors  in  connection  with  the  great 
bridge.  Before  you  and  I,  sir,  saw  the  magnifi- 
cent span,  or  perhaps  even  conceived  it,  it  already 
existed  in  the  busy  mind  and  the  determined  pur- 
pose of  a  very  few  men.  And  many — I  may  say 
the  most  of  these — were  still  with  us  at  the  time 
when  I  entered  the  Bridge  Board  a  youthful  and 
very  modest  member  in  1879.  The  heat  and  burden 
of  the  day  at  that  time  were  past  practically.  The 
uncertainties  and  diflBculties  which  at  first  gathered 
about  the  undertaking  had  been  happily  overcome, 
and  it  only  remained  to  carry  on  the  plans  of  the 
great  architect  with  the  abundant  means  provided 
by  an  appreciative  community  and  to  complete  the 
structure.  Of  those  veterans  whom  I  met  at  that 
propitious  time  in  the  old  oflSce  of  the  bridge — 
many  of  you  may  remember  it  was  over  the  coal 
yard  at  Fulton  Ferry— of  those  veterans  some  of 
the  greatest,  Mr.  Kingsley  and  Mr.  Murphy  and 
Mr.  Prentice,  have  passed  away.  Mr.  Marshall  and 
General  Slocum  and  Mr.  Stranahan  remained  to  see 
the  bridge  opened  for  traflBc  and  then  resigned 
their  charge.  We  younger  men  who  now  control  the 
details  of  the  management  have  little  part  or  lot  in 
the  glories  of  that  older  day.  The  builders  of  the 
Pyramids  were  greater  than  those  who  occupied  the 


40 

chambers  they  had  built.  The  latter  were  Pharaohs, 
to  be  sure.  They  are  dignified,  but  dead — very  dead. 
It  is  no  reflection,  however,  upon  the  frequent 
failures  of  the  present  potentates  of  the  bridge  to 
obtain  a  quorum.     [Laughter.] 

Although  nearly  ten  years  have  elapsed,  I  still 
recall  vividly  the  scenes  which  I  witnessed  when 
those  old  giants  of  administration  were  with  us. 
Each  of  them  excelled  in  some  department  of 
executive  ability,  but  none  of  them,  I  may  safely  say 
without  depreciation  to  any — none  were  so  masterful 
in  debate  as  our  friend  Mr.  Stranahan.  He  could 
argue  like  a  lawyer.  He  was  very  effective  in 
pleading,  and  upon  occasion  he  could  threaten  like 
Ajax  himself.  On  his  persuasive  eloquence  all 
objections,  all  obstacles  and  all  obstructions  were 
swept  away,  and  his  measures  prevailed  almost  inva- 
riably, as  has  been  here  recited  to-night.  One  great 
beauty  of  his  forensic  victories  was  that,  so  far  as 
I  know,  they  never  left  a  sting  behind  them,  and 
those  who  had  most  vehemently  opposed  him  were 
always  the  first  to  acknowledge  the  wisdom  of  the 
decision  that  had  been  in  a  sense  thrust  down  their 
throats.  The  last  of  these  great  battles  in  which 
our  friend  participated  was  the  battle  royal  of  the 
ferries.  Mr.  Stranahan  has  always  been  a  sort — as 
you  know  by  the  sketches  that  we  have  all  listened 
to,  if  you  do  not  know  by  your  own  observation — 
has  always  been  a  sort  of  high  commissioner  of 
immigration  for  Brooklyn.  Before  the  Bridge  days 
he  was  a  ferry  man,  a  very  devoted  ferry  man. 
In  fact,   I  may  say  he  was    the    St.    Christopher  of 


41 

the  East  River,  the  patient  bearer  of  all  comers  to 
our  shores.  Only  I  think  if  he  could  have  so 
arranged  it  he  would  have  had  the  boats  run  but 
one  way  [laughter],  so  that  no  one  could  escape 
from  this  Eldorado  of  homes  when  once  landed, 
and  to  those  eager,  arriving  throngs  he  would  have 
had  Palinurus,  the  pilot,  proclaim  from  his  point 
of  vantage  as  the  boat  entered  the  dock:  "Brook- 
lyn! Unlimited  time  for  refreshments!  [Laughter.] 
Next  and  last  station.    Greenwood!"     [Laughter.] 

Well,  when  the  bridge  was  finished  it  was  Chris- 
topher Stranahan  who  had  the  courage,  ignoring 
because  he  scorned  to  receive  the  charge  of  interested 
motives,  to  stand  up  in  the  Bridge  Board  and 
demand  that  the  bridge  should  not  enter  into  a 
ruinous  competition  with  the  ferries.  He  brought  to 
his  aid  all  the  resources  of  sentiment,  of  equity  and 
of  policy.  He  depicted  those  faithful  servants  which 
had  brought  to  Brooklyn  its  already  vast  population, 
and  pleaded  that  they  should  not  be  deprived  of 
their  occupation,  because  another  medium  of  com- 
munication had  arisen  for  service  by  their  side. 
Then  in  common  justice  he  urged  that  the  private 
investments  in  the  ferries  made  in  good  faith  had 
a  right  to  protection  from  public  assault,  and,  lastly 
and  chiefly,  he  insisted  upon  it  as  the  highest  public 
policy  that  Brooklyn  should  foster  every  means  and 
every  form  of  service  which  would  make  her  borders 
most  convenient  and  most  accessible  at  the  greatest 
number  of  points  to  the  greatest  number  of  people. 
"It  you  destroy  the  ferries,"  he  said,  **you  will 
depopulate   South   Brookljm  and  the  grass  will  grow 


42 

in  the  Wallabout,  and  thousands  of  people  who  live 
below  the  bridge  termini  or  do  business  below  the 
bridge  termini  will  rise  up  and  call  you — anything 
but  blessed.*'  And  so  he  said  to  his  colleagues:  * 'Gen- 
tlemen, this  won't  do.  We  not  only  need  the  bridge 
in  Brooklyn,  but  we  need  the  ferries,  too.*'  [Ap- 
plause.] And  so,  gentlemen,  it  comes  to  pass  we 
have  them  both  and  all  to  the  present  day.  And 
so  we  see  that  "  grand  old  man " — for  he  fairly 
shares  the  title  with  the  English  statesman,  whom 
in  many  points  he  resembles  [applause] — we  see  him 
looming  in  the  history  of  the  bridge,  even  as  the 
Brooklyn  tower  looms  above  the  shifting  tide.  His 
memory,  whether  you  erect  to  him  a  statue  or  not, 
will   be  as  imperishable  as  that   granite   pile. 

It  has  been  often  whispered,  and  more  than  once 
before  to-night  spoken  of  aloud,  that  it  would  be  a 
great  thing  for  both  cities  if  they  could  be  united 
under  one  corporation.  Reflection  along  that  line 
of  thought  makes  it  easy  to  fancy  those  two 
mighty  bridge  towers,  representing  on  the  one  hand 
the  inspired  engineering  of  Roebling,  and  on  the 
other  the  faithful  trustee  Stranahan,  swinging 
between  them  the  cradle  of  the  future  consolidated 
metropolis.      [Loud  applause.] 

The  Chairman  —  We  have  beard  from  the 
park  side;  we  have  heard  from  the  bridge  side, 
and,  to  make  the  story  complete,  we  want  to 
hear  from  the  side  of  the  city  as  well ;  and 
who  can  speak  to  us  so  well  as  the  Hon.  Seth 
Low? 


43 

The  handsome  ex-Mayor  arose,  amid  much 
applause,   to  respond.     This   was  what  he  said : 

SPEECH   OF   EX-MAYOR  SETH   LOW. 

Mr.  Chairman"  and  Gentlemen — It  has  been  to 
me  a  great  pleasure  to  take  part  in  this  Dinner 
given  in  honor  of  Mr.  Stranahan.  I  am  sincerely 
glad  to  have  this  opportunity  to  lay  my  tribute  of 
appreciation  at  Mr.  Stranahan's  feet  for  the  value 
of  his  services  and  life  in  our  midst.  I  may  not 
speak  altogether  from  the  standpoint  of  a  contem- 
porary, although  I  made  my  own  appearance  in 
Brookl^'n  only  six  years  after  Mr.  Stranahan  [laugh- 
ter], and  only  four  years  after  Dr.  Storrs.  But  if 
I  speak  for  a  younger  generation,  I  trust  that  it 
will  detract  nothing  from  the  satisfaction  of  our 
guest  to  know  that  his  life  here  is  treasured  and 
respected  and  honored  by  those  who  are  so  much 
younger  than  he.  There  is  one  point  in  connection 
with  his  life  that  it  seems  to  me  our  attention  has 
not  yet  been  called  to,  that  is  well  worthy  of  mark. 
There  may  be  some  good  cause  which  has  asked  for 
help  in  the  City  of  Brooklyn  since  Mr.  Stranahan 
has  been  a  citizen  of  Brooklyn  which  did  not 
receive  his  help,  but  if  there  be  such  a  cause  it 
never  has  been  my  fortune  to  hear  of  it.  [Ap- 
plause. ] 

I  think  there  is  no  institution  calculated  to  make 
Brooklyn  a  pleasanter  place  to  live  in,  a  place  offer- 
ing more  to  those  who  are  dwelling  here,  that  has 
ever  appealed  to  Mr.  Stranahan  without  meeting  a 
cordial  and  glad  response.      Some    men,   you    know. 


44 

only  take  an  interest  in  those  things  which  they 
themselves  originate.  Mr.  Stranahan  never  lias  been 
such  a  one.  While  inventive  in  the  best  sense,  as  Dr. 
Storrs  has  said,  for  the  good  of  Brooklyn,  he  has 
never  withheld  his  co-operation,  so  far  as  my  knowl- 
edge extends,  from  any  good  enterprise  desired  by 
others.  That  quality  entitles  him,  as  I  conceive,  to 
high  honor.  Mr.  Stranahan  has  been  from  .  the 
beginning  one  of  that  small  group  of  worthies  of 
whom  it  used  to  be  said  that  they  took  the  happy 
and  fortunate  Brooklynite  on  the  other  bank  of  the 
river  and  brought  him  across  the  stream ;  they 
then  received  him  in  the  cars  of  the  Brooklyn  City 
Railroad  and  carried  him  whither  he  would;  they 
then  offered  him  amusement  in  the  Academy  of 
Music,  instruction  in  the  Mercantile,  now  the 
Brooklyn  Library,  the  resources  of  wisdom  in  the 
Historical  Society,  and  finally  a  resting  place,  as 
General  Barnes  has  said,  in  Greenwood.  It  has 
been  said  slightingly  sometimes — sometimes  as  a 
jest.  But  it  all  covers  service — service  for  the  good 
of  his  fellow  citizens. 

I  sometimes  have  thought  it  was  rather  charac- 
teristic of  Mr.  Stranahan  that  from  his  high  point 
upon  the  bridge  he  has  been  able  to  look  down 
upon  his  colleagues  in  the  ferry  and  say,  as  he 
might  say  if  he  please,  "I  told  you  so!"  His 
prophetic  faith  in  the  complete  success  of  the 
bridge  led  him,  I  think,  with  more  steady  assur- 
ance than  any  of  his  colleagues  to  believe  that  it 
would  profoundly  affect  the  ferry  system  of  Brooklyn. 
He  has  lived  to  see  his  faith  justified  completely. 
But,    as    has    been    said,    Mr.    Stranahan's    chiefest 


46 

memorial  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people 
of  Brooklyn  is  the  Prospect  Park.  The  old  Roman 
poet  said,  you  know,  when  he  committed  his  songs 
to  the  leaves  of  literature,  "  I  have  erected  a 
monument  more  enduring  than  brass."  Mr.  Stran- 
ahan  has  committed  his  fame  to  the  songs  of  the 
forest  leaves.  It  may  be  said  that  the  grass  withers 
and  the  flowers  fade,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the 
grass  withers  only  to  spring  up  again  in  the  Spring 
with  a  new  verdure,  and  the  flowers  fade  only  to 
bloom  once  more.  So,  I  believe,  it  will  be  in 
regard  to  Mr.  Stranahan's  fame  in  connection  with 
our  beautiful  park.  As  long  as  the  flowers,  the 
grass  and  the  trees  continue  to  delight  our  people, 
so  long  the  people  will  hold  his  name  in  grateful 
remembrance.     [Applause.  ] 

But  there  is  another  matter  in  connection  with 
the  park  and  the  bridge  that  I  think  calls  for  a 
word  of  notice.  Dr.  Storrs  spoke  of  the  inventive 
policy,  of  the  foresight  of  those  days.  He  spoke  of 
the  heroic  persistence  with  which  those  works  then 
planned  were  carried  out.  He  did  not  speak  of 
the  immense  faith  in  Brooklyn  which  marked  the 
devising  of  the  park  at  the  time  when  it  was  begun. 
It  is  easy  enough  for  us  to-day,  a  city  of  800,000 
people,  to  say  that  Prospect  Park  is  only  such  a 
park  as  we  ought  to  have ;  but  I  imagine  it  took 
immense  courage,  gentlemen,  twenty-eight  years  ago, 
when  Brooklyn  was  a  city  less  than  one-third  of  its 
present  size,  to  believe  she  was  capable  financially 
of  carrying  that  work  and  her  share  of  the  Brooklyn 
Bridge  through  to  complete  success.  It  is  true 
that   when  the    panic    struck    the    city    in    1873   it 


46 

brought  everything  to  a  standstill,  just  as  it  did 
many  another  enterprise  the  land  over.  For  ten  years 
and  more  the  city  was  obliged  to  pursue  a  policy 
entirely  the  opposite  of  that  which  had  ruled  before. 
She  was  obliged,  under  every  administration,  to  take 
in  sail  in  every  direction,  to  throw  overboard  what 
could  be  spared,  and  to  shape  her  course  with  refer- 
ence simply  to  carrying  successfully  the  load  that 
those  early  days  had  placed  upon  her.  But  the 
faith  which  those  gentlemen  had  in  Brooklyn  was 
abundantly  Justified.  She  has  come  through  it 
triumphantly.  She  carries  her  park  and  her  bridge 
to-day  with  an  ease  that  makes  us  all  unconscious 
that  she  carries  it. 

Our  debt  to-day,  our  net  debt,  the  first  of  this 
year,  wjis  more  than  $6,000,000  less  than  it  was 
when  it  was  my  fortune  to  be  elected  Mayor,  and 
in  those  six  years  a  city  larger  than  Kochester  has 
been  added  to  the  Brooklyn  of  that  day.  I  want 
to  ask  for  the  present  time  some  of  that  confidence 
in  the  power  and  capacity  of  Brooklyn  that  marked 
the  earlier  period.  I  want  to  ask  for  our  present 
Mayor  the  support  of  the  people  of  Brooklyn  in 
the  large  plans  for  our  future  that  he  is  asking  us 
to  consider.  [Applause.]  I  believe  he  is  absolutely 
right  in  his  belief  that  the  City  of  Brooklyn  as 
she  is  circumstanced  now — for  mind  you,  with  the 
settlement  of  the  arrears  problem  the  whole  condition 
of  Brooklyn's  finances  has  been  changed — I  believe 
the  Mayor  is  absolutely  right  in  his  contention  that 
Brooklyn  can  better  afford  to  borrow  money  at  2| 
per  cent,   interest  for  the   wholesale  repaving  of  our 


47 

streets  than  by  declining  to  do  so,  to  tax  ourselves 
heavily  for  a  comparatively  small  improvement,  and  to 
go  without  the  large  impetus  to  our  future  growth 
that  would  come  from  such  a  system  of  well  paved 
thoroughfares  as  he  has  suggested.     [Applause.] 

I  think  the  experience  of  Berlin,  gentlemen,  is 
to  the  point.  In  1870,  or  thereabouts,  it  was  one 
of  the  worst  paved  cities  of  Europe.  They  began 
then  to  repave  it,  and  they  tried  to  do  it  through 
the  annual  tax  levy.  They  discovered,  after  a  year 
or  two,  that  it  would  take  forty  years  to  repave 
Berlin  at  the  rate  at  which  they  could  tax  them- 
selves. They  therefore  borrowed  $4,000,000  from 
the  Imperial  Government  and  repaved  Berlin,  and 
made  it  in  ten  years  one  of  the  best  paved  cities 
of  Europe.  Now,  I  ask  you,  if  the  Brooklyn  of 
267,000  people  could  devise  and  carry  through  to 
success  the  Prospect  Park,  and  a  little  later  could 
bear  two-thirds  of  the  burden  of  the  Brooklyn  Bridge, 
whether  the  present  Brooklyn  of  800,000  people  pro- 
poses to  flinch  before  a  proposition  of  this  kind, 
bearing  upon  its  surface,  as  it  seems  to  me,  every 
mark  that  entitles  it  to  support.  I  think  the  city 
is  to  be  congratulated  that  we  have  reached  once 
more  the  point  at  which  the  enthusiastic  believer  in 
Brooklyn  can,  as  Dr.  Storrs  said,  devise  and  carry 
forward  works  for  the  future. 

Then,  Brooklyn  has  reached  in  another  respect  a 
point  that  Mr.  Stranahan,  I  am  sure,  has  long 
hoped  for,  and  which  some  of  us  have  sometimes 
thought  might  never  come.  Men  of  wealth  and 
power  in  the   city   have  begun   to  do  largely  out  of 


48 

their  own  means  for  the  honor  of  the  city.  The 
Adelphi  Academy  has  been  the  recipient  of  splendid 
gifts  from  one  of  our  fellow  citizens.  [Applause.] 
The  same  liberal  heart  and  hand  have  erected  the 
Pratt  Institute  [applause],  which  is  calculated,  in 
my  judgment,  not  merely  to  do  a  beneficent  work  in 
Brooklyn,  but  to  add  honor  to  the  name  of  Brook- 
lyn all  over  the  Union.  Another  of  our  fellow  citi- 
zens has  erected  the  Hoagland  Laboratory  [applause], 
and  there  he  proposes,  if  his  hopes  are  borne  out, 
as  I  am  sure  they  will  be,  that  the  study  of  the 
human  body  shall  be  made  with  so  much  of  skill 
and  patience  and  research  that  the  name  of  Brook- 
lyn will  be  written  upon  the  medical  and  scientific 
annals  of  the  country  in  imperishable  letters. 

Gentlemen,  these  are  great  things  to  be  thankful 
for,  and  they  are  partly  due  to  the  guest  of  the 
evening  and  to  the  other  men  who,  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  ago,  believed  largely  in  Brooklyn. 
They  believed,  and  therefore  we  have  the  bridge  and 
the  park,  and  because  we  have  those  things,  these, 
their  successors,  are  willing  to  do  things  for  Brook- 
lyn of  the  kind  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Now, 
we  need  another  thing  in  Brooklyn.  We  need  a 
public  library.  I  do  hope  that  before  many  years 
go  over  our  heads,  either  some  munificent  individual, 
or  private  citizens  co-operating  with  the  city,  will 
take  hold  of  the  Brooklyn  Library  and  make  it 
free.  [Applause.]  It  is  not  possible,  it  sems  to 
me,  to  overestimate  the  importance  of  the  public 
library  in  the  education  of  the  masses  of  the  people, 
according  to  modern   methods.     If  any  of  you  know 


how  the  university  extension  scheme  has  worked 
in  England ;  if  you  know  that  in  connection  with 
the  classes  of  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scien- 
tific Circle  there  are  a  hundred  thousand  students 
reading  all  over  this  broad  land  in  their  homes, 
and  reading  under  intelligent  direction  and  advice, 
you  must  appreciate  how  important  it  is  that  those 
who  want  so  to  read  should  have  the  means  at 
their  disposal.  A  great  city  like  Brooklyn  needs 
a  public  library.  I  believe  we  never  shall  be  the 
city  we  ought  to  be  until  we  have  it.  I  bespeak 
of  those  who  are  in  this  room  that  we  take  that 
up  as  one  thing  to  speak  for  and  to  struggle 
for  until  we  add  it  to  the  other  attractions  of  this 
great  city. 

Now,  gentlemen,  have  I  wandered  far  afield  ?  I 
think  not,  because  we  are  standing  in  the  presence 
of  Mr.  Stranahan,  whose  constant  devotion  of  forty- 
four  years  has  been  to  make  Brooklyn  a  nobler, 
lovelier  and  pleasanter  city  in  which  to  dwell.  He 
has  taught  us  that  lesson  of  implicit  faith  in  her 
capacity  and  in  her  future.  I  think  we  should 
miss  completely  the  meaning  of  this  gathering  — 
those  of  us  who  are  younger  —  if  we  did  not  take 
from  this  presence  the  inspiration  of  such  a  faith, 
such  a  trust,  such  an  absolute  belief  in  the  Brook- 
lyn that   is  to  be.     [Applause.] 

The  Chairman — We  had  hoped  to  have  the 
Mayor  with  us,  but  he  sent  a  note  stating 
that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  here.  We 
are,     however,     fortunate     in     having    with    us 

4 


50 

General  John    B.   Woodward,  the    President    of 
the  Park  Commission,   whom   I   now  present. 

General  Woodward  was  cordially  received. 
He  talked  as  follows: 

SPEECH    OF    GENERAL    WOODWARD. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen— I  count  it  very 
fortunate,  indeed,  that  I  am  able  to  be  with  you 
here  to-night  to  join  with  you  in  a  personal  and 
in  some  way  official  recognition  of  the  services  of 
Mr.  Stranahan.  All  of  you  see  the  results  of  his 
labors  from  the  outside.  I  am  fortunately  so  sit- 
uated that  I  see  much  of  them  from  the  inside, 
and  as  I  study  the  annals  of  the  park  in  the 
office  I  cannot  fail  to  receive  an  inspiration  for  the 
faithful  performance  of  the  duties  which  have  been 
temporarily  consigned  to  me.  And  I  want  to  say 
to  you  that,  from  the  few  months'  experience  I 
have  had  there,  1  marvel  that  any  man  could  have 
remained  for  twenty-two  years  performing  the  ardu- 
ous and  vexatious  duties  devolved  upon  the  office. 
I  know  something  of  what  I  say  when  I  assure 
you  that  the  cranks  and  persons  who  come  to  offer 
advice  are  a  troublesome  lot.     [Laughter.] 

If  you  could  go  forward  as  you  do  in  your  busi- 
ness with  a  feeling  that  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn 
had  confidence  in  you  when  you  were  placed  there, 
and  would  leave  you  to  perform  your  duties  in 
such  way  as  your  best  Judgment  may  dictate,  the 
path  of  public  officers  would  be  one  of  roses.  As 
it  is  now,  to  guard  themselves  from  assault  on  the 


61 

one  hand  and  on  the  other  to  do  only  what  is 
right,  is  indeed  a  task  which  few  men,  unless  they 
had  the  courage  of  Mr,  Stranahan,  would  hold  for 
so  many  years.  The  work  he  has  done,  if  you  will 
consider  it  for  a  moment,  as  shown  by  the  record, 
has  been  a  vast  one.  The  total  cost  of  the  park 
has  been  over  $9,000,000,  and  every  dollar  has  been 
accounted  for  on  the  books  of  the  department. 
Then,  for  twenty-two  years  he  had  the  annual 
appropriations  to  look  after,  varying  from  $125,000 
to  $175,000  —  watching  all  points  and  guarding 
against  the  intrusion  of  the  hordes  who  would  like 
to  have  participated  in  all  that  vast  sum  of 
money. 

It  has  been  told  to  you  that  Mr.  Stranahan 
came  to  Brooklyn  in  1844.  Let  me  say  this  :  It^s 
a  great  pity  he  did  not  come  here  sooner.  I  will 
give  you  a  few  figures  to  prove  this.  Brooklyn  has 
in  its  park  area  678  acres  of  land;  New  York  has 
5,157  ;  Philadelphia,  3,000  ;  Chicago,  3,000 ;  Boston, 
2,000  ;  St.  Louis,  2,232 ;  Baltimore,  770  ;  San  Fran- 
cisco, 1,181  ;  Washington,  1,000 ;  Buffalo,  900.  Of 
these  nine  cities  Brooklyn  is  at  the  bottom.  Where 
would  it  have  been  but  for  Mr.  stranahan  ? 
[Applause.]  Brooklyn  has  one  acre  of  park  area 
to  1,100  of  its  people.  Imagine  1,100  citizens  of 
Brooklyn,  if  they  all  wanted  to  use  the  park  at 
once  —  1,100  on  one  acre.  New  York  has  one 
acre  to  232 ;  Philadelphia,  one  acre  to  282  ;  Chicago, 
one  to  168  ;  Boston,  one  to  170  ;  St.  Louis,  one 
to  157  ;  Baltimore,  one  to  428  ;  San  Francisco,  one 
to  198  ;  Washington,  one  to  188  ;  Buffalo,  one 
acre  to  178  people ;   Brooklyn  only  one  acre  to  1,100 


52 

people.  Now  compare  Brooklyn  with  Europe.  Lon- 
don has  22,000  acres  of  parks  ;  Paris,  58,000  ; 
Berlin,  5,000 ;  Vienna,  8,000  ;  Tokio,  6,000;  Brus- 
sels, 1,000  ;  Amsterdam,  800 ;  Dublin,  1,000.  Brook- 
lyn behind  the  great  cities  of  Europe.  Brooklyn 
has  one-fifth  of  the  average  of  American  cities  and 
one-ninth  of  the  average  of  the  cities  of  Europe. 
What  would  our  position  have  been  without  Mr. 
Stranahan  ? 

Let  me  say  that  Mr.  H.  B.  Pierrepont  in  1825 
tried  to  preserve  for  public  uses  the  ground  now 
known  as  Columbia  Heights.  He  had  prepared  at  his 
own  cost  a  plan  for  making  a  park  and  submit- 
ted it  to  the  trustees  of  the  village  and  the  parties 
in  interest.  It  was  approved,  but  was  defeated  by 
the  exertions  of  one  individual  who  had  a  small 
interest  in  the  property.  If  Mr.  Stranahan  had 
come  to  Brooklyn  in  1825  this  park  on  the  Heights 
would  have  been  preserved  to  Brooklyn,  and  the 
ground  between  the  westerly  side  of  Hicks  street 
and  the  river  would  have  been  Iphetonga  Park, 
and  every  citizen  of  Brooklyn  would  have  been 
as  proud  to  take  visitors  there  as  when  you  go  to 
Boston  they  are    to    haul    you   across  the   Common. 

In  1835  Governor  Marcy  appointed  a  commission 
to  devise  a  system  of  parks  for  Brooklyn.  They 
devoted  four  years  to  this  work,  and  in  1839  recom- 
mended eleven  sites  for  parks  and  squares,  John- 
son Square,  Lafayette  Green,  Bedford  Green,  Marcy 
Square,  Prospect  Square,  Reid  Square,  Fulton  Square, 
Mount  Prospect  Square,  Tompkins  Park,  Washing- 
ton Park,  City  Park.  Of  these  the  three  latter  only 
survive ;    and    as    late    even  as    1868  a    very    deter- 


63 

mined  effort  was  made  to  cut  up  Washington  Park, 
Fort  Greene,  and  sell  it  off  in  building  lots.  Mr. 
Stranahan  stopped  that.  If  he  had  come  to  Brook- 
lyn in  1835,  nine  years  before  he  did,  these  eleven 
parks  would  have  been  added  to  the  park  area  of 
Brooklyn.  I  want  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  when 
Mr.  Stranahan  took  hold  of  the  matter  Brooklyn 
got  some  park  area.  If  he  had  come  here  and 
begun  that  same  course  in  reference  to  the  original 
laying  out  of  Brooklyn,  what  a  different  place  it 
would  have  been.  Here  we  have  the  streets  built 
up  solid  without  any  public  squares,  and  right  here, 
let  me  say,  it  has  been  a  matter  of  great  embarrass- 
ment to  the  Beecher  Memorial  Committee  to  find  a 
place  in  the  city  in  which  to  erect  the  statue  of 
that  great  man,  and  it  has  been  forced  to  go  out 
to  Prospect  Park.  Even  there  they  suggest  the 
removal  of  the  bust  of  Washington  Irving  to  some 
other  place,  so  that  Beecher  and  Irving  may  take 
turn  about  in  that  position.  It  may  be  wise  to 
reserve  another  spot  in  Prospect  Park  where  we  can 
erect  this  statue  of  Mr.  Stranahan,  which  has  been 
suggested,  and  I  know  I  can  assure  you  that  the 
present  Park  Commissioners  will  take  great  pleasure 
in  trying  to  give  it  a  proper  and  permanent  place. 
The  Commissioners  feel  that  they  have  a  light 
duty  to  perform  now  in  respect  to  the  park,  as 
their  work  is  mostly  that  of  maintenance.  We  are 
simply  to  preserve  what  Mr.  Stranahan  has  pre- 
pared. Those  of  us  who  remember  the  land  as  it 
was  before  he  took  hold  of  it  cannot  but  wonder 
that  he  had  such  faith  in  the  future.  Compare 
what  it  was  then  with  what   it  is  now,  and  it  must 


54 

be  to  all  of  you  a  source  of  great  happiness  and 
glory  that  this  gentleman  came  to  us  in  1844.  I 
hope  that  the  plan  proposed  to  my  fellow  Park 
Commissioner  (Dr.  Storrs)  to-night  may  result  in 
something  substantial,  so  that  in  the  future  the 
citizens  of  Brooklyn  may  have  before  them  the 
faithful  likeness  of  Mr.  Stranahan  in  enduring 
bronze.     [Applause.] 

The  Chairman  next  introduced  Mr.  Waldo 
Hutchius,  of  the  New  York  Park  Commission. 
Mr.  Hutcliins  was  cheered,  and  having  arisen, 
spoke  in   this    way : 

SPEECH   OF    WALDO    HUTCHINS. 

Mr.  Chairman— I  feel  that  I  am  here  to-night 
under  false  pretenses.  I  came  over  to  shake  hands 
with  my  old  friend  Mr.  Stranahan,  whom  I  have 
known  longer  than  any  gentleman  in  this  room,  I 
presume.  I  came  over  to  listen  and  not  to  speak. 
You  don't  expect  me  to  speak  of  New  York.  She 
is  in  an  eclipse  to-night  and  our  friend  Stranahan 
has  put  her  there.  What  Mr.  Stranahan  has  done 
for  Brooklyn  has  incited  us  to  try  to  do  something 
a  little  better.  You  are  not  only  indebted  to  him 
for  your  Prospect  Park,  but  I  think  that  the  inspira- 
tion coming  by  him  to  us  has  induced  us  to 
add  to  our  parks  something  like  4,000  acres  within 
the  last  two  years,  all  of  which  I  think  Brooklyn 
is  entitled  to  the  credit  of,  and  our  friend  Mr. 
Stranahan.  There  is  no  citizen  whom  it  would 
give     me    more    joy    to    come    and    meet   and    see 


65 

honored  to-night,   as   Mr.    Stranahan  has  been,  than 
himself.     It  has  been    said    that    a   man  in  private 
life  could  not  do    as    much    as    a    man    in    public 
life.     I  think   Mr.    Stranahan  is  an  instance  of  what 
a  man  in  private  life   can   do.     And  undoubtedly  it 
is  true  that   Brooklyn    to-day    is    more    indebted  to 
him   than  to  any  other  one  individual   for  its  great 
public    works    which     have    been     undertaken     and 
carried    through     within    the     last     few    years,    and 
which   have   made  Brooklyn  famous  the    world   over. 
Fifteen  years  ago   a    man   going  abroad — even  my 
friend  Judge   McCue — would  not  register   himself  as 
coming  from    Brooklyn,   but    as    coming    from    New 
York.      [Laughter.]      Now    I    am    sure  he   registers 
himself  as  from  the   City  of  Brooklyn  and  its  great 
bridge.     Why,   any    one    coming    from    abroad    now 
looks  at    the    great     bridge    uniting    the    cities    of 
Brooklyn  and   New    York    as    the  first  thing  to  be 
seen  and  to  admire.     It  is  the  greatest  architectural 
and    engineering    undertaking    that     has    ever    been 
accomplished  in  the  histor^  of  the  world,    and    adds 
to   the  seven  wonders  of  the  world,   and   has  become 
the  eighth  wonder  of  the   world.      But   it   seems  to 
me,   gentlemen,   that   we  must    not   overlook  in  this 
gathering    here    to-night    some    qualities    which   our 
friend   Stranahan  possesses,  which,  although  they  do 
not  come  under  the  term    of    public  improvements, 
have  a  mighty  bearing,    and    which  endear  him  to 
the  people  of  this  city  more  than  all  else — his  gentle 
acts  of  kindness  and    his    love    to    his  fellow  man. 
[Applause.]     I   would  ask  you,   gentlemen,   who  ever 
saw   him   in    a    passion  ?     As    stern    a    man  as  ever 
lived ;    decided  in  his  views ;  a  man  whom  a  child 


56 

could  lead,  but  whom  a  giant  cannot  drive. 
[Applause.]  There  is  not  a  child  in  the  City  of 
Brooklyn  who  does  not  love  him,  nor  is  there  an 
adult  who  does  not  admire  and  respect  him.  And 
it  is  this  which  has  endeared  him  to  you  as  much 
as  these  great  public  works  with  which  he  has 
been  connected  ;  genial  in  his  heart's  intercourse 
in  life,  honest  in  all  his  business  engagements, 
having  but  one  end  in  view,  the  interest,  protec- 
tion and  advancement  of  the  citizen. 

There  is  not  a  tenement  house  in  this  city  to- 
day not  healthier  and  better  for  his  living  here. 
Not  a  street  that  is  not  in  better  condition  than 
it  would  have  been  if  he  had  not  lived  here.  I 
think  the  spirit  he  has  always  manifested  among  the 
citizens  of  this  city,  the  noble  purpose  of  always 
doing  that  which  was  best  for  his  fellow  citizens, 
regardless  of  himself  and  his  own  private  interests, 
is  that  which  brings  you  here  to-night  to  do  him 
honor.  It  is  too  late  for  me  to  say  much  more, 
but  as  I  have  been  seated  here  the  lines  of  Leigh 
Hunt  have  come  into  my  mind  and  they  seem  to 
me  to  have  been  for  our  friend  Stranahan.  At 
any  rate,  if  he  did  not  have  him  in  mind  it  was 
a  man  just  like   him.     They   are   these: 

Abou  Ben  Adhem  (may  his  tribe  increase)  I 
Awoke  one  night  from  a  deep  dream  of  peace, 
And  saw  within  the  moonlight  in  his  room, 
Making  it  rich,  and  like  a  lily  in  bloom, 
An  angel  writing  in  a  book  of  gold  ; 
Exceeding  peace  had  made  Ben  Adhem  bold, 
And  to  the  presence  in  the  room  he  said, 
"What  writest  thou?"    The  vision  raised  its  head, 
And  with  a  look  made  of  all  sweet  accord, 


67 

Answer'd,  "The  names  of  those  "who  love  the  Lord." 

"And  is  mine  one?"  said  Abou.     "Nay,  not  so," 

Replied  the  angel.    Abou  spoke  more  low. 

But  cheerily  still ;  and  said,  "I  pray  thee,  then, 

Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow  men." 

The  angel  wrote  and  vanish'd.     The  next  night 

It  came  again,  with  a  great  wakening  light. 

And  show'd  the  names  whom  love  of  God  had  bless'd. 

And,  lo  !    Ben  Adhem's  name  led  all  the  rest. 

The  Chairman — We  are  always  anxious  to 
know  what  the  press  think,  and  particularly 
what  the  Eagle  thinks  of  Brooklyn  men  and 
events.  Brooklyn,  indeed,  would  not  be  Brook- 
lyn without  the  Eagle's  expression  being  nightly 
known.  We  have  with  us  this  evening  the  Hon. 
St.  Clair  McKelway,  the  Editor  of  the  Eagle, 
who  will  now  address  you,  so  you  can  tell  now 
what  he  thinks  before  the  account  of  this  Dinner 
is  reviewed  to-morrow.  [Applause.]  Mr.  McKel- 
way was  heartily  cheered  on  rising,  and  spoke 
as  follows : 

SPEECH   OF   MR.   ST.   CLAIR  McKELWAY. 

Mr.  President— I  shall  not  make  my  remarks  so 
long  this  evening  as  the  distance  of  150  miles  I 
have  traversed  to-day  to  parti(3ipate  in  the  pleasant 
proceedings  of  to-night.  The  mention  of  Mr. 
Stranahan  has  on  all  sides  elicited  the  statement 
that  to  think  of  him  is  to  think  of  the  park,  of 
the  park  from  inception  to  completion,  and  from 
completion  through  the  many  years  of  maintenance  in 
which  it  was  under  his  fostering  care.     I  take  it  that 


68 

the  reference  which    Mr.    Stranahan    made   to  those 
legislators  who   stood   in    important   relations    to    the 
grant  of  power   to   him  and    his  associates,  to   work 
out  the  trust  committed  to  their  hands,  was  deliber- 
ately uttered  by    him.      It  has  been   my  fortune   in 
the  last  three  days  of  absence  from  the  city,  in  the 
discharge  of  official  duties  for   the  State,  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  one  formerly  a  resident  of  Brooklyn,  who 
was  instrumental  largely  in  helping  forward  the  legis- 
lation necessary  to  the  power  to  acquire  and   create 
Prospect   Park.    I  refer  to  the  Hon.  Henry  R.    Pier- 
son,  formerly  of  this  city  [applause],  now  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Kegents  and  Chancellor  of  that  body. 
It  was  his  privilege  to  be,  while  a  resident  here,  the 
President   of    the   Brooklyn  Club,    the   only   Club   of 
the  kind  to  be  compared  with  this  one,  and  the  best 
members  of  which,   with  a  few  exceptions,  are  mem- 
bers of  both   organizations.     [Laughter.]     When   Mr. 
Pierson   left   Brooklyn    for    larger    fields    of    activity 
that  organization  gave   to    him    a  parting  dinner  of 
recognition  and  tribute,    which   was,    I  think,   up  to 
that   period,    the    most    significant    social    ovation  in 
the    history    of    our    town ;    and    I    can    see    in    the 
faces    of   certain    here    present    the    working    of    the 
mellow   memories  of  the   profound   condition   of  ani- 
mal  and   of  ardent  spirits   into   which  they   plunged 
on  that  occasion.     [Much  laughter.]     To-day  he  bade 
me  bear   to   his   friends — and  all  Brooklynites  are  his 
friends,   as  your  applauding  hands  attest — the  assur- 
ance   of    his    honor,     gratitude     and     sense    of    deep 
appreciation    of    the     labors    of    the    guest    of    this 
evening.     [Applause.]     I    know    that   I   could  not  be 
original   without    a    contradiction    of    Solomon,   who 


59 

said,  "  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  ;"  and 
I  would  be  more  than  human  could  I  add  any- 
thing of  novelty  or  much  of  value  to  the  accordant 
tributes  which  have  been  heard  around  this  table 
to-night  to  the  career  and  character  of  the  eminent 
young  man  [applause]  who  is  our  guest  upon  this 
occasion. 

All  this  concurrent  expression  of  the  worth  of  Mr. 
Stranahan  in  the  forty-four  years  of  his  residence 
in  Brooklyn  —  which  numbers  more  years  than  I 
have  been  a  resident  anywhere — involves  certain 
qualities  which  have  been  guardedly,  gently,  and,  in 
some  of  the  speeches,  even  grandly,  suggested.  I 
think  that  a  distinguishing  trait  of  our  friend  is 
his  urbanity.  His  manners  of  courtly  distinction, 
yet  of  refined  simplicity,  have  always  encased  him 
like  an  atmosphere,  or  radiated  from  him  like  a 
solar  light.  Then,  as  Dr.  Storrs  has  remarked,  is 
that  "longanimity"  of  the  man,  that  long  suffer- 
ing and  much  enduring  patience.  He  has  known 
and  shown  that  the  best  answer  of  any  man  to 
calumny  and  criticism,  or  misinterpretation  of  any 
sort,  or  from  any  source,  is  the  rounded  record  of 
a  blameless  life.  He  has  known  and  shown  that 
vilification  is  the  tribute  which  malignity  and  envy 
pay  to    merit    and  success.     [Tremendous  applause.] 

The  first  time  I  was  ever  interviewed  in  my  life 
was  when  I  made  an  attempt  to  interview  Mr. 
Stranahan.  [Laughter  and  applause.]  I  remember 
very  well  he  had  a  red  handkerchief.  It  was  an 
oriflamme  of  more  evasive  power  than  the  bandana 
of  contemporaneous  human  interest.  [Laughter.]  I 
lold  him  what   I  came    for.      He    told    me  what  I 


60 

was  not  going  to  get.  He  made  me  as  unanimous 
as  the  Park  Board  under  his  administration 
[laughter],  and  when  I  came  back  to  my  chief,  he 
said  to  me,  '*  Young  man,  you  are  no  more  of  a 
failure  than  many  of  your  predecessors  in  the 
same  line."  [Laughter.]  His  control  of  temper  has 
been  spoken  of.  Commissioner  Hutchins,  of  the 
lesser  Brooklyn  [laughter],  has  said  that  no  man 
ever  saw  him  in  a  passion.  Gentlemen,  that  is  a 
Washingtonian  characteristic  which  I  think  demands 
special  commendation  at  this  time.  By  it  he  made 
doubters  disciples,  opponents  allies,  and  enemies 
friends,  and  by  it  he  has  indicated  and  vindicated  his 
sublime  reliance  on  science,  and  on  time,  and  on 
the  maturing  public  spirit  of  this  city.     [Applause.] 

He  has  told  you  that  an  industry  which  has  had 
its  genesis  in  his  brain,  and  which  under  the  wand 
of  his  mind,  like  the  earth,  sprang  from  almost 
nothing  into  beauty,  now  pays  one  two-hundredth 
part  of  the  taxes  of  this  city.  Is  there  a  man  who 
can  say  of  any  other  institution  of  equal  power  I  am 
it,  and  it  is  I,  in  this  or  any  other  American  munici- 
pality, or  in  an  European  municipality  around  the 
globe  ?  I  think  not.  [Applause.]  He  has  also  spoken 
to  us  in  the  character  of  a  prophet,  and  predicted  the 
consolidation,  the  eventual  union,  of  these  two  cities 
by  the  sea.  I  am,  perhaps,  from  not  unselfish 
reasons,  proud  of  the  autonomy  of  Brooklyn,  and 
reverence  for  our  guest  does  not  involve  the  neces- 
sity of  agreeing  with  all  his  propositions.  I  hope 
that  never  will  be  the  time  when  Brooklyn  shall  lose 
her  identity  and  be  merged  with  New  York  or  any 
other    municipality.     I    believe    that    the    genius    of 


61 

American  statesmanship  is  manifested  in  the  smaller 
rather  than  in  the  larger  municipalities.  I  believe 
that  the  interests  of  our  people  are  enhanced  by 
the  division  and  distribution,  rather  than  by  the 
centralization,  of  political  powers.  I  want  Brooklyn 
to  remain  Brooklyn,  and  to  develop  as  Brooklyn  in 
all   the  future.     [Applause.] 

One  of  the  speakers  to-night,  less  embarrassed  than 
myself,  because  he  came  earlier,  said  he  wondered 
whether  he  was  himself  or  somebody  else.  Now,  sir, 
as  there  is  only  one  Dr.  Storrs,  I  marvel  at  his  sur- 
prise. [Applause.]  As  a  member  of  Parliament 
said  "  Ditto  to  Mr.  Burke,"  so  I  would  be  glad 
to  say  now  ''Ditto"  to  what  the  leader  of  the 
American  pulpit  has  advanced  here  to-night  con- 
cerning our  eminent  guest.  I  shall  not  enlarge  in 
these  remarks  upon  any  further  points  illustrative  of 
Mr.  Stranahan's  career  and  character.  For  age,  by 
itself  considered,  we  all  have  a  tender  feeling  ;  but, 
at  best,  longevity  is  but  sheer  and  mere  duration, 
and  it  is  not  necessarily  either  admirable  or  impress- 
ive. No  number  of  yards  or  years  of  time, 
measured  to  us  off  as  our  own,  can  constitute  dis- 
tinction. To  exist  is  only  not  to  die.  To  be  and 
to  do  something  is  to  live.  It  is  Mr.  Stranahan's 
distinction  to  have  identified  great  age  with  great 
achievements.     [Applause.] 

I  heartily  second  the  erection  in  Prospect  Park 
of  a  monument  to  this  great  and  good  man. 
Samuel  Findley  Breese  Morse  did  not  detract  by 
anything  he  did  from  the  monument  erected  to  him 
in  his  lifetime.  William  Tecumseh  Sherman  will 
not   detract  by  anything    he    shall   do   from   the  one 


62 

it  is  proposed  to  erect  to  liim  in  his  lifetime  in 
the  City  of  Washington,  which  he  preserved  as  the 
capital  of  an  indissoluble  union  of  indestructible 
States.  Nor  will  our  honored  guest  do  aught  to 
detract  from  the  intention  here  formed  and  soon, 
I  hope,  to  be  carried  into  organized  effect. 
[Applause,] 

I  do  not  believe  that,  except  in  years,  he  is  so 
old  as  many  men  I  see  around  me.  He  has  caught 
from  nature  the  secret  of  perpetual  youth.  "  He 
is  the  youngest,"  as  Dr.  Holmes  said  on  a  semi- 
centennial Harvard  occasion,  "at  our  board  to-night." 
We  wish  him  many  long  years  yet  ahead,  and 
when  the  summons  which  comes  to  all  mortality 
shall  come  to  him,  may  it  then  be  said  of  this 
great  civic  American,  as  Dr.  Storrs  once  said  of 
the  greatest  President  of  our  own  time  and  annals, 
that  "  From  the  topmost  achievement  of  man,  a 
life  well  spent,  he  stepped  to  the  skies  as  the  gates 
of  pearl  swang  inward  at  his  approach."  [Applause.] 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  applause  excited  by 
Mr.  McKelway's  address,  the  guests  joined  in 
singing  the  verses  of  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  with 
impressive  effect.  The  gentlemen  then  paid 
their  parting  respects  to  President  Olcott  and 
to  Mr.  Stranahan,  after  which  the  memorable 
occasion  came  to   an   end. 


63 

The  following  speech  was  prepared  by  S.  M. 
Parsons,  for  delivery  at  the  Stranahan  Dinner 
if  volunteer  speeches  had  been  called   for : 

Mr.  President — It  is  singular  how  difficult  it  is 
to  project  and  carry  out  great  public  improvements. 
It  seems  to  be  given  only  to  men  of  large  brain 
and  unselfish  public  spirit  to  forecast  the  coming 
needs  of  a  growing  people ;  and,  then,  for  one  to 
succeed,  he  must  be  a  man  of  energy,  and  pluck, 
and  of  iron  determination,  with  an  undoubting  faith 
in  himself.  He  will  be  a  target  for  ridicule  and 
misrepresentation,  and,  without  a  sublime  confidence 
in   himself  and  his   measures,  he  will  succumb. 

I  well  remember,  years  ago,  meeting  that  prince 
of  men,  who  honored  Brooklyn  in  her  mayoralty 
chair,  for  one  or  more  terms,  the  late  George  Hall. 
It  was  on  the  corner  of  Clinton  and  Livingston 
streets,  and  we  both  were  looking  at  the  water 
mains  being   laid   in  Clinton   street. 

"AVhy,"  he  said,  'Hhe  people  will  not  yet  believe 
that  water  is  to  be  introduced  into  their  dwellings, 
although  they  see  the  pipes  going  down  under  the 
ground.  They  look  upon  the  whole  thing  as  a  huge 
job  to  gobble  up  the  public  money.  They  have  no 
faith  that  anything  will  come   of  it." 

The  same  incredulity  and  suspicion  marked  the 
inception  of  the  park  and  bridge  enterprises,  and 
but  for  the  grit  and  public  spirit  and  wise  fore- 
cast of  our  honored  guest  and  his  associates— the 
true  prophets  and  seers  of  Brooklyn — we  should  still 
be  discussing  the  propriety  and  feasibility  of  those 
two  wonderful  works.  It  needs  a  man  of  nerve  to 
take   the  bull  by  the    horns,    and    push,   and  push, 


64 

no  matter  who  is  gored,  himself  or  others,  only  that 
he  be  master  of  the  situation,  and  progress  is  made. 
An  impalement  of  himself  now  and  then  only  lends 
more    vigor,   and   makes  that    progress    the    greater. 

We  recognize  in  Mr.  Stranahan  the  man  for  the 
occasion — the  wise  projector,  the  skillful  and  suc- 
cessful executor  ;  and  it  is  fitting  that  his  long  years 
of  service  to  the  people's  good,  without  fee  or 
reward,   should  be  acknowledged. 

When  triumph  has  crowned  devotion  like  his,  and 
everybody  is  enjoying  its  fruits,  we  are  apt  to  lose 
sight  of  the  great  architects  of  our  good  fortune. 
The  result  seems  then  as  a  matter  of  course — a 
necessary  evolution,  and  not  a  special  creation  of 
special  brain,  and  energy,  and  forethought.  How 
often  appear  most  simple  the  processes  of  a  great 
discovery,  after  it  is  made  !  The  falling  of  an 
apple,  the  bubbling  up  of  steam  from  the  homely 
tea  kettle  may  prefigure  a  mighty  revolution  in 
science  and   mechanics. 

All  honor  then  to  our  distinguished  guest  for  the 
part  and  lot  he  had  in   these  great  matters. 

Ancient  Greece  and  Rome  would  have  perpetuated 

his   memory   in  enduring  marble   or  bronze  ;   but  he 

needs  no   work  of    his  fellow   citizens   to  send    down 

his    name    to    the    future ;   for  they   of    the  present 

generation  and  their  children  to  the  latest  day,   and 

the    visiting    strangers,  as   they  enter    the    gates  of 

our  beautiful     park,   and   enjoy    its    charms  of   field 

and   forest  and  meadow   and   landscape,  will  read   on 

every  tree  and  green   walk   and   sequestered  vale, 

Stranahaa  fecit, 

"Si  queris  monumeatum, 
Circumspice." 


LETTERS  OF  REGRET. 


LETTERS  OF  REGRET. 


The  following  letters  of  regret  were  received: 

[From  Mr.  B.  D.  Silliman.] 

I 


56  Clenton  Street, 
Brooklyn,  December  4,  1888. 


George  M.  Olcott,  Esq.,  President,  etc.: 

My  Dear  Sir: — A  disabling  cold  compels  me  to  decline 
your  kind  invitation  for  the  13th  inst.  It  would.  I  need 
hardly  say,  give  me  very  great  pleasure  to  meet  your  excellent 
guest  and  his  hospitable  hosts,  and  it  is  most  reluctantly  that 
I  forego  the  opportunity  of  doing  so.  During  the  more  than 
half  a  century  in  which  I  have  enjoyed  the  acquaintance 
and  the  friendship  of  Mr.  Stranahan  his  course — his  advance 
in  life — has  been  one  of  constant,  generous  and  steadily  pro- 
gressive usefulness  to  others  and  honor  to  himself.  His 
wisdom,  his  energy  and  his  efficiency  have  each  been  very 
remarkable.  In  their  combination  they  have  been  conspicu- 
ous and  effectual  in  the  development  and  conduct  of  the 
chief  institution  of  our  city.  His  name  is  identified — as 
his  memory  will  be — with  all  our  great  public  improvements, 
among  them  the  park,  the  great  marine  basin,  the  ferries, 
the  bridge,  and  with  our  institutions  of  learning,  of  art  and 
of  benevolence.  These  will  be  his  monuments.  His  unchang- 
ing integrity  and  untiring  and  generous  fidelity  to  his  friends 
have  given  him  a  warmly  welcome  home  in  all  their  hearts. 
Again  expressing  my  sincere  regret  that  I  cannot  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  being  with  you  on  the  occasion  of  your  recep- 
tion of  Mr.  Stranahan,  I  am,  dear  Mr.  President, 
Cordially  yours, 

B.   D.  SILLIMAN. 


68 

[From  Mr.  Stewart  L.  Woodpobo.] 

Hamilton  Club.  i 

TiiUKSDAY.   December  13.  1888.  \ 

My  Dear  Mr.  Stranahan : — More  than  I  can  well  tell  you 
am  I  grieved  and  disappointed  that  I  cannot  join  our  fellow 
townsmen  to-night  in  their  tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to 
yourself.  But  I  must  go  to  New  York  in  fulfillment  of  a 
promise  made  long  ago — before  this  Dinner  was  arranged. 
May  all  good  health  and  happine&s  be  yours. 
Faithfully, 

Your  friend, 

STEWART  L.  WOODFORD. 
To  the  Hon.  J.  S.  T.  Stkanahan. 


[From  Mb.  A.  W.  Tknney.] 

Evening  PotT  Building,        \ 

206  Broadway,  I 

New  York,   December  13,   1888.  ) 

Hon.   J.   S.   T.   Stranauan  : 

My  Dear  Sir : — I  fully  intended  to  be  present  at  the  Dinner 
so  appropriately  given  you  to-night  by  the  Hamilton  Club, 
but  not  being  a  member  of  this  Club,  I  find  myself  unable  to 
obtain  a  seat.  I  regret  exceedingly  I  cannot  unite  with  the 
citizens  of  Brooklyn  in  paying  you  this  well-merited  com- 
pliment, but  as  I  cannot,  I  seud  you  this  note  conveying 
to  you  my  heartiest   felicitations    upon  this   rich  occasion   of 

3'our  life. 

I  trust  the  last   days   of  your   long   and    useful  life  may 
be  the  best,  and  that   the   glory  of    the  evening   may  be  to 
you  brighter  and   more  histing  than  was  the  morning. 
With  assurances  of  high  regard,   I  am, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

A.  W.  TENNEY. 


69 

[From  Mr.  Frederic  A.  Ward.] 

161  Remsen  Street,         i 
Brooklyn,   December  7,  1888.  f 

My  Dear  Sir : — I  greatly  regret  that  a  professional  engage- 
ment at  Albany  will  prevent  me  from  being  present  at  the 
Dinner  proposed  to  be  given  to  Mr.  Stranahan  on  the  13th  inst. 

I  am  quite  in  accord   with  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and 
should  delight  to  join  in  honoring    our  distinguished  fellow- 
citizen,   to  whose    disinterested    and    public    spirited  devotion 
to  her  interests  our  city  owes  so  much. 
Very  truly  yours, 

FREDERIC  A.  WARD. 
To  Wm.  B.  KJENDAiiL,  Esq.,   Chairman,  etc. 


[From  Mr.  Charles  Pratt.] 

Charles  Pratt  &  Co.,        \ 

26  Broadway,  C 

New  York,  December  4,  1888.) 

Mr.  Wm.    B.    Kendall,    Chairman    of    Committee    Hamilton 
Club,   Brooklyn,   N.  Y.  : 

Dear  Sir: — I  regret  very  much  that  the  wedding  of  a 
young  friend  will  prevent  my  attending  the  Dinner  to  be  given 
in  honor  of  our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  J.  S.  T.  Stranahan.  If  it 
is  possible,  however,  for  me  to  return  by  half-past  ten  I  shall 
come  in,  but  am  afraid  I  shall  not  have  that  pleasure,  which 
I  very  much  regret.  Should  be  glad  if  you  will  extend  to 
Mr.  Stranahan  my  congratulations  upon  the  continuation  of 
his  good  health,  and  the  high  honors  which  his  honorable  and 
useful  life  entitles  him  to. 

Regretting  my  inability  to    definitely   promise  to   attend,  I 

remain. 

Very  truly  yours, 

CHARLES  PRATT. 


70 


[From  Mr.  Jaxxs  P.  Waixaok.) 

14   SCHERMERHORN   St.,  ) 

Bkooklvn,  December  13,  1888.  <j 

Dear  Mr.  Orr : — Will  you  please  allow  me  a  suggestion. 
It  is  generally  conceded  that  Brooklyn  is  indebted  to  Hon. 
J.  8.  T.  Stranahan  for  the  best  features  of  Prospect  Park  and 
Ocean  Parkway. 

Except  for  him  it  is  almost  certain  the  Manhattan  Beach 
Railroad  would  have  crossed  the  Parkway  on  grade.  It  is 
quite  as  certain  that  the  Elevated  Railroad  would  have  planted 
its  posts  in  the  center  of  the  Parkway,  had  not  the  good  sense 
and  powerful  influence  of  Mr.  Stranahan  stood  in  their  way. 
And  it  is  positively  certain  that  if  Mr.  Stranahan  was  at  the 
helm,  that  splendid  drive  would  be  preserved  to  the  public,  and 
not  be  ruined  by  any  railroad  corporation. 

My  suggestion  is  that  the  Dinner  party  being  held  at  the 
Hamilton  Club  this  evening,  start  a  petition  to  change  the 
name  of  Ocean  Parkway  to  Boulevard  Stranahan,  in  honor  of 
the  man  to  whom  Brooklyn  is  so  greatly  indebted. 

Napoleon  III.,  in  recognition  of  less  distinguished  service, 
gave  the  name  of  Boulevard  Haus.sman  to  the  finest  avenue  in 
Paris.  Should  not  Brooklyn  do  as  much  in  honor  of  our  first 
citizen  ? 

Respectfully  yours, 

JAMES    P.   WALLACE. 
To  Mr.  a.  E.  Ork. 


[From  Mr.  William  G.  Low.] 

58  Remsen  Street,        ) 
December  11,   1888.  f 
My  Dear  Mr.   Stranahan : —YmdXrxg  that  I  shall  be  unable 
to  attend  the  Dinner  in  your  honor  at  the  Hamilton  Club,  I 
write  to  express  my  appreciation  of  your  public  spirit,  your 
sagacity,  your  tenacity    of    purpose    and    your  foresiglit,   all 
61  which    have    been    freely    given    to    the    advancement    of 
Brooklyn's  interests. 
Nor  do  I   fail    to    appreciate    the   benignant  courtesy  with 


71 


which  you  have  treated  me,  as  well  as,  doubtless,  the  other  men 
of  my  generation. 

Hoping  that  for  a   long   time   yet  you  may  sojourn  among 
us  here,  I  remain  with  sincere  respect. 
Yours  truly, 

WILLIAM  G.  LOW. 
To  Hon.   J.  S.  T.  Stranahan. 


KE,   i 


[From  Mr.  William  Peet.] 

Bristow,  Peet  &  Opdyke, 
20  Nassau  Street,  New  York, 
December  13,    1888. 

Dea?'  Sim: — Sadness  in  my  bereavement,  in  the  loss  of  a 
dear  little  grandchild,  unfits  me  for  the  festivities  of  this 
evening  to  do  honor  to  our  esteemed  friend  Hon.  Jas.  S.  T. 
Stranahan. 

It  is  eminently  proper  that  the  oldest  Club  in  Brooklyn,  as 
representing  its  older  residents,  should  pay  their  respect  to 
one  to  whose  prophetic  vision,  energetic  action  and  unbounded 
liberality  in  time,  influence  and  estate,  our  city  is  so  greatly 
indebted. 

Known  to  me  personally  for  about  forty  years  and  appre- 
ciated as  a  personal  friend,  as  well  as  a  life-long  friend  of 
my  honored  father,  now  in  the  better  world,  I  have,  per- 
haps more  than  any  others,  a  higher  duty  to  jmy  him  great 
respect ;  especially  as  the  Good  Book  says  :  "  Thine  own 
friend  and  thy  Father's  friend  forsake  not." 

Please  make  to  Mr.  Stranahan  my  apologies  for  my  absence, 
and  my  wishes  that  for  many  years  he  may  yet  live  a  noble 
example  to  coming  men  of  Brooklyn,  as  he  has  been  for 
many  years  to  their  fathers. 

I  remain,  with  great  respect, 

WILLIAM  PEET. 

To  Messrs.  Wm.  B.  Kendall,  Willis  L.  Ogden,   C.  S.  Yak 
Wagoner,  George  R.  Turnbull,  Committee. 


PRESS  COMMENTS. 


PRESS    COMMENTS. 


[From  the  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle,  December  14,  1888.] 

THE   DINNER  TO  OUR  CHIEF   CITIZEN. 

The  Eagle  to-day  reports  the  merited  but  remarkable  tribute 
to  the  Hon.  James  S.  T.  Stranahan,  tendered  last  night  by 
a  representative  gathering  of  his  fellow  Brooklynites.  The 
occasion  was  a  recognition  of  signal  achievement,  of  magni- 
ficent character,  of  splendid  abilities,  and  of  the  fact  that  the 
chief  citizen  of  this  city  has  passed  the  eightieth  milestone 
on  the  road  of  life,  his  eye  undimmed  and  his  natural  force 
not  abated. 

Age  is  a  gift  of  the  gods  rare  enough  to  mark  their  capri- 
ciousness,  yet,  in  another  sense  of  comparison,  frequent 
enough  to  make  the  celebration  of  it,  merely  for  its  own 
sake,  not  especially  impressive.  A  dullard  may  outlast  his 
century,  and,  so  far  as  the  world  is  concerned,  may  have 
survived  his  usefulness  by  as  many  years  as  he  has  been 
born.  Oldness,  by  itself  considered,  is  like  largeness,  small- 
ness,  tallness  or  shortness,  purely  incidental.  In  it  is 
neither  excellence  nor  the  reverse.  What  we  do  in  our 
period  is  the  thing.  The  resultants  of  any  stewardship  are 
the  praise  or  the  condemnation  of  it.  If  those  resultants 
have  been  wholly  selfish,  it  may  be  better  for  the  man  that 
he  never  had  been  born.  If  they  make  for  the  good  of 
kindred,  city,  commonwealth  and  country,  for  the  nation 
and  for  humanity,  the  man  has  been  a  blessing  to  his  time 
and  clime. 

Measured  by  these  principles,  the  gentleman  who  honored 
the  Hamilton  Club  with  his  presence  last  night  may  be  sure  of 
the  verdict  of  the  minds  and  of  the  hearts  of  Brooklynites 
and  of  the  verdict  of  history  as  well.  He  has  been  contem- 
poraneous with   some  of    the    grandest    events  in   the  history 


76 

of  the  world.  He  Is 'older  than  the  utilization  of  steam  for 
the  purpose  of  navigation.  He  was  entitled  to  be  a  voter 
when  the  tirst  locomotive  started  Echo  from  all  her  caves. 
The  United  States  had  not  long  shaken  oflf  their  dependence 
on  Great  Britain  on  the  land  when  he  was  born,  and,  after 
he  was  born,  they  challenged  successfully  her  supremacy 
upon  the  sea.  He  has  seen  the  number  of  our  States 
trebled,  the  area  of  our  territory  quadrupled,  the  birth  of 
the  telegraph,  the  discovery  of  the  miraculous  telephone,  the 
wonder  of  the  phonograph,  the  knitting  of  the  continents 
into  instantaneous  imity  of  thought  by  the  cables,  the  growth 
of  our  nation  from  6,000,000  to  60,000,000  of  people,  the 
establishment  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  of  the  nationality 
of  liberty,  and  of  the  universality  of  suffrage  on  this  side 
of  the  earth.  ^ 

The  recitation  of  the  marvels  of  God's  working  in  his 
time  could  be  indefinitely  extended,  but  generalizations,  in 
each  of  which  are  held  myriads  of  details,  will  suffice  for 
suggestion.  In  as  many  of  these  changes  as  he  has 
been  able  to  affect,  his  part  has  not  been  small.  His  has 
been  a  constructive,  a  creative  and  a  prophetic  life.  He 
took  part  in  laying  out  the  first  grand  line  of  railway 
which  belted  the  East  to  the  West  with  bands  of  iron.  He 
was  the  pioneer  in  this  city  by  the  sea  of  those  enterprises 
which  make  Brooklyn  the  entrepot  and  the  depot  of  the 
commerce  of  three  continents.  For  long  years  he  poured 
in  treasure,  labor  and  faith,  taking  out  nothing  from  the 
deposit,  until  at  last  his  hope,  his  energy  and  his  prescience 
were  rewarded,  and  men  saw  that  he  had  builded  wiser  than 
they  knew.  His  relations  to  the  park  and  to  the  bridge  we 
need  not  recite,  for  they  are  household  words  in  Brooklyn. 
His  relation  to  the  cause  of  Union  and  of  liberty  is  as 
marked  and  distinctive  as  that  of  any  of  our  citizens,  and 
stamps  him  as  a  man  whose  confidence  in  moral  principles 
equals  his  faith  in  the  material  resources  of  his  country  and 
in  the  indomitable  capabilities  of  our  citizenship.  None  of 
the  men  in  the   past  who  have  built  up  the  name  and  the 


77 

fame  of  Brooklyn  has  failed  to  find  him  an  invaluable 
counselor  and  an  indispensable  coadjutor.  None  of  the  men 
of  the  present  who  have  succeeded  to  the  trusts  which  the 
founders  of  our  city  bequeathed  has  failed  to  realize  that 
in  the  career  and  character  of  James  S.  T.  Stranahan  reside 
the  indication  and  the  vindication  of  a  municipal  patriotism, 
of  a  municipal  statesmanship  and  of  a  municipal  spirit  which 
honor  Brooklyn  and  which  alike  typify  and  account  for  the 
quality  and  the  degree  of  our  prosperity. 

We  do  not  look  upon  him  as  old.  In  heart,  in  hope,  in 
resilience,  he  was  the  youngest  at  the  board  last  night.  He 
has  caught  from  life  the  secret  of  living.  The  Greeks  had 
a  saying,  "Call  no  man  happy  until  he  is  dead."  They 
had  a  decree  prohibiting  the  erection  of  memorials  to  the 
living.  Their  theory  was  that,  until  the  human  account  was 
closed,  something  might  at  any  time  occur  to  mar  its  stately 
proportions  or  to  detract  from  its  symmetrical  and  exemplary 
character.  No  such  apprehension  need  be  felt  about  Mr. 
Stranahan.  We  know  that  patient,  gentle,  wise  and  benignant 
man  has  a  right  to  happiness  in  the  fact  of  a  life  lived  for 
others,  and  that  from  this  table-land  of  time  looking  back- 
ward on  the  past  and  forward  on  the  future,  we  can  say  in 
pride  and  he  can  say  with  confidence,  "  Whatsoever  record 
leaps  to  light,   his  never  will   be  shamed." 

The  Eagle  heartily  seconds  the  proposition  started  last  night 
of  a  monument  in  the  park  to  the  man  who  made  the  park. 
It  is  fitting  that  the  project  should  be  effected  while  the 
man  is  alive  to  enjoy  it,  for  not  only  would  the  fact  be  a 
deserved  and  felicitous  tribute  to  him,  but  it  would  also  be 
a  proof  of  the  gratitude  and  appreciation  felt  by  Brooklyn 
for  her  most  achieving  and  her  most  illustrious  citizen,  who 
has  wrought  for  her  so  long  and  wrought  for  her  in  every 
high  and  helpful  department  of  endeavor  so  transcendently 
well. 


78 

[From  the  Brookltn  Standabo-Umion,  December  14,  1888.] 

BROOKLYN'S  FIRST  CITIZEN. 

It  is  safe  to  suy  that  the  several  hundred  thousand  people 
of  Brooklyn  who  were  not  at  the  Hamilton  Club's  Dinner 
to  Mr.  Stranahan  last  night  will  partake  of  "  the  feast  of 
reason  and  flow  of  soul"  which  is  served  in  the  Standard- 
Union's  report  of  the  proceedings  to-day.  Mr.  Stranahan  has 
had  a  ful^  share  of  the  rough  criticism  that  often  falls  upon 
public  men,  but  it  never  swerved  him  from  his  purposes,  and 
really  seems  to  have  acted  upon  him  as  friction  upon  the 
diamond  :    it  gave  him  a  brighter  polish. 

Tenacity  has  been  one  of  his  distinguishing  characteristics, 
and  if  the  belief  that  ultimate  success  was  sure  to  transform 
censure  into  praise  in  the  end  ever  inspired  him  in  the  days 
of  his  early  struggles,  it  has  been  abundantly  justified  in 
later  years. 

Rev.  Dr.  Storrs  seems  to  have  touched  the  point  exactly 
when  he  said  that  "  no  man  wants  to  be  flattered,  but  every 
man  wants  to  be  appreciated  ;"  and  that  Mr.  Stranahan's 
grand  life  work  is  now  appreciated  has  been  shown  to  him 
by  many  a  public  and  private  sign  before  this  Club  Dinner 
was  ever  thought  of. 

As  to  that  work,  it  is  not  easy  to  say  which  particular 
branch  of  it  has  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  com- 
munity— the  Atlantic  Docks,  the  Parks,  or  the  Bridge.  The 
last  two  were  essentially  public  works,  and,  therefore,  they 
have  received  the  greater  share  of  public  attention  ;  but  the 
first,  though  a  private  enterprise,  was  the  natural  precursor, 
if  not  progenitor,  of  the  last  two,  and  helped  largely  to  give 
this  city  the  population  that  made  them  the  necessities  they 
are  to  day.  What  the  city  is  now  it  may  largely  thank  him 
for,  and  no  one  will  now  dispute  his  right  to  be  called  "the 
first  citizen  of  Brooklyn." 


79 

[From  the  Brooklyn  Daily  Times,  December  14.  1888.] 

J.   S.  T.   STRANAHAN. 

The  Hamilton  Club  honored  itself  last  evening  by  paying 
tribute  to  the  distinguished  services  James  S.  T.  Stranahan 
has  Tendered  to  Brooklyn.  Mr.  Stranahan  has  encountered 
his  fair  share  of  criticism  and  misrepresentation  during  a 
more  than  ordinarily  long  and  busy  life,  but  he  has  survived 
it  all,  and  to-day  we  doubt  if  there  is  one  citizen  of  Brooklyn 
who  would  not  gladly  join  to  do  him  honor. 

The  three  great  works  with  which  Mr.  Stranahan  has  been 
identified  from  the  beginning,  as  he  stated  in  his  speech 
last  night,  are  the  Atlantic  Docks,  Prospect  Park  and  the 
Bridge.  The  first  of  these  has  had  an  incalculable  influence 
in  fixing  Brooklyn's  position  as  one  of  the  great  seaports 
of  the  world;  the  second  has  had  scarcely  less  influence  in 
making  Brooklyn  attractive  as  a  city  of  homes;  the  third 
has  given  an  unparalleled  impetus  to  our  growth  and  has  prac- 
tically made  the  two  great  metropolitan  centers  one  city. 
It  is  no  small  glory  to  any  man  to  have  been  conspicuously 
identified  with  all  of  these  great  enterprises. 


[From  the  New  York  Scn,  December  15,  1888.] 

BROOKLYN  AND  NEW   YORK. 

The  citizens  of  Brooklyn  have  good  reason  to  hold  Mr. 
James  S.  T.  Stranahan  in  honor,  for  during  more  than  forty 
years  past  he  has  been  the  leading  spirit  in  every  great  pro- 
ject for  the  improvement  and  development  of  that  now  vast 
community. 

When  Mr.  Stranahan  first  made  his  home  in  Brooklyn,  in 
1845,  it  was  a  town  of  only  about  50,000  inhabitants,  while 
the  population  of  New  York  was  nearly  ten  times  as  many. 
At  that  period,  too,  it  was  remarkable  for  a  village-like 
character,  even  among  places  of  its  own  size  ;  and  in  all 
respects  it  was  a  mere  satellite  of  the  greater  town,  with 
comparatively  few  important  industries  of  its  own,  and  with 
little  public  or  private  enterprise.    The  inhabited  area  did  not 


/ 


80 

extend  far  from  the  shores  of  the  East  River,  and  the  only 
way  of  access  to  it  from  New  York  was  by  ferries  with 
accommodations  so  indifferent  that  they  retarded  tlie  growth 
of  the  community.  The  fine  City  Hall  was  in  process  of 
erection,  but  besides  it  there  were  no  public  buildings  of 
consequence,  the  city  teing  noted  only  for  the  number  of  its 
churches,  all  of  which  were  without  architectural  impor- 
tance. 

In  other  words,  Brooklyn  was  a  very  slow  place  in  1845, 
but  Mr.  Stranahan  at  once  began  to  infuse  into  it  his  own 
energy,  for  even  then  he  foresaw  that  because  of  its  natural 
advantages  it  was  destined  to  become  a  vast  community.  He 
first  gave  his  attention  to  developing  the  water  front  by 
pushing  forward  the  Atlantic  Docks  to  successful  completion. 
He  was  instrumental  in  improving  the  ferry  facilities.  He 
conceived  and  brought  about  the  establishment  of  the  mag- 
nificent Prospect  Park,  and  he  was  the  most  strenuous  advo- 
cate for  building  the  East  River  Bridge  at  a  time  when  the 
project  was  looked  upon  as  chimerical.  There  has  been  no 
wise  enterprise  for  the  development  of  Brooklyn  which  this 
distinguished  citizen  has  not  aided  and  promoted. 

It  was  therefore  fitting  that  the  leading  men  of  the  com- 
munity should  unite  in  giving  Mr.  Stranahan  a  Dinner  on 
Thursday  evening  in  recognition  of  his  great  services  to  the 
town.  On  that  occasion,  although  he  is  now  over  80  years 
of  age,  he  spoke  with  the  vigor  of  youth,  and  showed  that 
the  sagacity  for  which  he  has  been  so  remarkable  during  his 
long  career  as  the  foremost  man  in  Brooklyn  is  in  no  wise 
diminished. 

He  has  witnessed  the  growth  of  Brooklyn  from  a  sleepy 
town  of  50,000  inhabitants  to  a  great  city  of  more  than 
800,000  population,  and  yet  he  rightly  foresees  that  its  pro- 
gress has  only  just  begun.  To  accelerate  that  progress  he  is 
convinced  that  the  consolidation  of  Brooklyn  with  New 
York  is  necessary,  and  that  it  is  inevitable.  As  he  said  on 
Thursday  night,  there  is  no  other  reason  why  the  present 
separation  should  continue  than  that  it  actually  exists.  The 
two   communities    are   one    in    interest,    and    their    common 


81 

advantage  requires  that  their  municipal  policy  should  be  the 
same. 

Brooklyn*  now  is  as  much  an  integral  part  of  New  York 
as  Harlem,  and  with  the  multiplication  of  bridges  across  the 
East  River,  sure  to  come  in  the  early  future,  it  will  be  not 
less  closely  linked  with  it.  From  an  economical  point  of  view 
also,  as  Mr.  Stranahan  remarked,  the  maintenance  of  two  muni- 
cipal governments  where  only  one  is  necessary  does  not  exhibit 
wisdom  on  the  part  of  the  two  communities.  The  cost  of 
administration  is  increased  without  any  corresponding  benefit, 
but  to  the  actual  disadvantage  of  both,  since  both  would 
gain  by  a  uniform  scheme  of  development. 

The  argiunent  that  the  greater  the  community  the  greater 
the  dangers  from  municipal  government  under  popular  suf- 
frage is  not  sustained  by  the  experience  of  New  York.  With 
a  population  of  more  than  1,600,000,  it  is  better  governed 
now  than  when  it  was  half  the  size,  and  when  Brooklyn 
adds  800,000  more  the  improvement  is  likely  to  go  on.  The 
more  important  the  interests  and  the  more  magnificent  the  pos- 
sibilities, the  greater  will  be  the  incentive  for  men  of  dis- 
tinguished administrative  ability  to  take  part  in  municipal 
affairs. 

The  two  communities  are  bound  to  come  together,  and  may 
Mr.   Stranahan  live  to  see  the  day  of   the  union. 


[From  The  New  York  Evening  Post,  December  13,  1888.] 

BROOKLYN'S    FIRST    CITIZEN. 

Complimentary    Dinner    by   tile    Hamilton    Club — Over 

One  Hundred  of  His  Fellow  Citizens 

TO  be  Present. 

A  compliment  is  to  be  paid  this  evening  to  a  man  who 
is  often  called  "Brooklyn's  First  Citizen."  He  is  James  S. 
T.  Stranahan,  and  a  Dinner  is  to  be  given  in  his  honor  by 
the  Hamilton  Club  in  the  Club-house,  on  the  Heights.  Mr. 
Stranahan's    long   and    honorable  career  of    more    than    four- 


82 

score  years  has  just  been  crowned  by  his  election  as  a 
Presidential  Elector  for  the  Empire  State,  a  position  he  first 
filled  when  he  aided  in  the  re-election  of  President  Lincoln. 
For  over  forty  years  Mr.  Stranahan  has  l)een  identified 
with  the  growth  of  Brooklyn,  and  the  creation  of  Prospect 
Park  and  the  building  of  the  East  River  Bridge  will  be 
indissolubly  connected  with  his  name. 

In  his  long  and  varied  life  Mr.  Stranahan  has  followed  a 
variety  of  pursuits  and  has  always  enjoyed  high  honor ; 
and  now  in  a  serene  old  age  he  enjoys  the  fruits  of  a  labo- 
rious career,  amid  the  surroundings  of  competence,  in  a 
happy  home.  A  school  teacher  and  civil  engineer  in  his 
youth  in  central  New  York,  when  only  twenty-five  years  old 
he  founded  and  built  up  a  flourishing  village  in  Oneida 
County.  When  thirty  years  old  he  represented  it  in  the 
State  Assemby.  Then,  after  a  short  residence  in  Newark, 
where  he  promoted  railroad  interests,  he  went  to  Brooklyn 
in  1845.  That  city,  then  ten  years  old,  was  just  feeling  a 
new  impetus  after  the  panic  of  1837,  which  stopped  the 
building  of  her  immense  City  Hall.  Mr.  Stranahan  saw  the 
commercial  possibilities  of  the  barren  shores  of  South  Brook- 
lyn, and  projected  the  great  warehouse  system  there,  now 
known  as  the  Atlantic  Docks,  which  do  an  immense  busi- 
ness. 

The  first  public  honor  Mr,  Stranahan  received  was  an  elec- 
tion as  Alderman,  and  in  1850  he  was  the  Whig  candidate  for 
Mayor,  but  was  defeated.  Four  years  later,  however,  he  was 
sent  to  Congress,  where  he  scored  an  excellent  record. 
Returning  to  Brooklyn,  he  was  made  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners when  the  Metropolitan  Police  Board  for  this  city  and 
Brooklyn  was  organized.  When  the  plan  of  Prospect  Park 
was  projected  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  it,  and  was  made 
President  of  the  Commission  from  its  formation  in  1860. 
He  held  this  position  until  1882,  and  the  entire  system  of 
Prospect  Park — by  competent  authorities  declared  the  finest 
urban  park  in  the  country,  with  its  connecting  boulevards 
and  the  Coney  Island  Race  Course— was  largely  due   to  his 


83 

fertile  brain  and  guiding  hand.  Meantime  he  became  deeply 
interested  in  the  projected  bridge  linking  the  two  great 
cities,  taking  stock  in  the  enterprise,  and  when  it  was  made 
a  public  work  taking  the  position  of  trustee,  which  he  held 
a  dozen  years,  and  succeeding  William  C.  Kingsley  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Trustees.  For  a  third  of  a  century  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  Union  Ferry  Company,  and  hardly  any 
public  matter  in  Brooklyn  has  failed  to  receive  hearty  sup- 
port at  his  hands.  In  the  war,  as  a  member  of  the  War 
Fund  Committee  and  in  the  work  of  the  Sanitary  Fair, 
which  raised  $500,000,  he  was  active  and  useful.  His  wife 
has  just  completed  an  important  work  upon  the  history  of 
French  painting. 

The  invitation  which  Mr.  Stranahan  has  accepted  to  dine  at 
the  Hamilton  Club  to-night  has  been  extended  by  such  well- 
known  Brooklynites  as  Alexander  E.  Orr,  S.  B.  Chittenden, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Hall,  George  M.  Olcott,  ex- Mayor 
Seth  Low,  Gen.  Alfred  C.  Barnes,  Isaac  H.  Cary,  Gen. 
Benjamin  F.  Tracy,  W.  B.  Kendall,  Willis  L.  Odgen,  and 
Robert  B.  Woodward.  In  it  they  say,  "It  is  the  desire  of 
your  friends,  in  a  simple  and  unostentatious  manner,  to 
declare  their  appreciation  of  what  you  have  been  able  to 
accomplish  for  the  welfare  of  the  city  in  which  for  so  many 
years  you  have  lived  an  honored  and  useful  life." 

The  number  who  can  be  accommodated  at  the  tables  in 
the  Hamilton  Club's  dining-room  is  110,  and  the  applications 
for  seats  have  been  so  many  that  the  Dinner  Committee, 
composed  of  Messrs.  Kendall,  Odgen,  Van  Wagoner  and 
Turnbull,  have  had  difficulty  in  accommodating  all  who 
desired  places.  There  will  be  speeches,  more  or  less  informal, 
after  the  coffee  is  served,  for  the  guests  of  the  evening, 
ex-Mayor  Low,  Dr.  Hall,  Gen.  Tracy,  and  others.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  he  is  in  his  eighty-first  year,  Mr. 
Stranahan  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  good  health,  and  he  pre- 
sided at  a  public  meeting  in  the  late  campaign. 


84 


[From  the  New  York  Indbpkndbnt,  December  80,  1888.] 

The  Hamilton  Club  of  Brooklyn,  last  week,  gave  a  splen- 
did reception  to  the  Hon.  J.  S.  T.  Stranahan  at  a  Dinner  to 
which  he  was  invited,  as  the  guest  of  the  ClUb,  in  commem- 
oration of  his  "honored  and  useful  life"  in  that  city.  Mr. 
Stranahan  has  lieen  a  resident  in  Brooklyn  ever  sinfce  1844 ; 
and  during  this  period  has  made  himself  a  great  social  power 
of  good  to  that  city.  He  is  now  one  of  its  oldest  inhabitants, 
having  just  passed  his  eightieth  birthday.  He  has  been  in- 
timately identified  with  three  great  public  enterprises — namely, 
the  Atlantic  Docks,  Prospect  Park  and  the  East  River  Bridge, 
all  of  which  have  brought  vast  benefits  to  the  city,  and  the 
first  two  of  which  are  mainly  the  creations  of  his  brain.  It 
was  eminently  fitting  that  such  a  reception  should  be 
extended  to  him  in  the  evening  of  his  life,  when  lengthening 
shadows  are  pointing  .so  significantly  to  iJts  close.  Mr.  Strana- 
han in  the  speech  which  he  made  to  the  Club,  gave  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  particular  enterprises  with  which  he  had  been 
specially  connected,  suggesting  at  its  close  the  expediency  of 
consolidating  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn  into  one  muni- 
cipal corporation.  His  last  words,  falling  as  they  did  from 
veteran  lips  and  sobered  age,  which  we  here  reproduce,  de- 
serve to  be  read  and  pondered  throughout  the  world  : 

"  I  have  one  more  thought,  gentlemen,  which,  as  I  trust,  will  not 
be  deemed  out  of  place  on  this  occasion.  My  age  forcibly  reminds  me 
that,  with  me,  the  earthly  things  of  which  I  have  spoken  to  you  must 
soon  give  place  to  things  of  a  different  character  and  a  much  higher 
order.  It  is  no  secret  to  you,  as  it  is  none  to  me,  that  before  us  lies 
a  yawning  gulf  upon  which  we  must  all  at  last  he  launched.  Religious 
faith,  with  its  anchorages  and  towers  resting  upon  the  solid  rock  of 
God  himself,  and  that  only,  can  bridge  that  gulf,  and  land  thought  safely 
on  the  further  shore.  Such  faith  is  the  common  neces-sity  of  our  race. 
No  elevation  of  intelligence  can  supersede  it  or  do  its  work.  There  is 
no  registration  for  man  so  exalted,  or  so  rich  in  the  privileges  and 
immunities  which  it  secures  and  guarantees,  as  the  one  that  places  his 
name  in  the  'Iamb's  Book  of  Life.'  May  Qod  grant  us  all  a  peaceful 
and  happy  transit  from  this  changing  scene  to  the  brighter  and  better 
world  above." 

Mr.  Stranahan  did  honor  to  himself  in  paying  this  appro- 
priate tribute  to  religious  faith  as  the  final  resting-place  for 
the  human  soul.    All  experience  proves  the  truth  of  his  words. 


